RFC: Loading packages at startup
This is just one point in a proposal. Clearly we need a switch to turn re-loading off.
On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, Paul Gilbert wrote:
"(Ted Harding)" wrote:
... so that if the user invoked a function which had been used in a previous session, packages needed would be loaded
Am I correct in thinking the main need for this is for object definitions that require a package, rather than for methods? I have the impression that putting requires() in a function works fairly well. Or is it needed because methods for the objects need to be available?
The latter. It also ensures that function conflicts are resolved consistently.
A comment from a practical user's viewpoint. I'm not sure of the value of having this happen automatically.
I wonder about this too. Especially since I seem to spend much more time debugging code than I do actually using it. Should I be worrying about
That must be way out in the tail of R users, few of whom program at all.
something similar to the mixed blessing of .a and .so executables? What happens when packages are updated, moved to new locations (as systems administrators are prone to do), or things are moved (among packages or in/out of base)? What happens when I want the version of a package I am trying to debug, not the one that is installed? Should there be a warning if the signature on a package does not match the one originally used?
Basically no problem: Upgrades are no more problem than now. (And now upgrading mclust can give you a completely incompatible package, BTW.) If a package is moved, then you would get a warning. But how often does that happen? Moving the R installation and the standad library would be no problem as the location would be stored as `standard' in some way. Versions are fine too, as the location would be recorded and you would get the same version as last time (unles you moved it ...).
I guess I would like to understand that this is a step forward in software design, not simply a minor user convenience (and possibly a headache for developers)? Sorry if I am a bit slow on some of these things.
It is a user convenience. However, I think it makes life easier not harder.
Brian D. Ripley, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272860 (secr) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-devel mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-devel-request@stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._