-----Original Message-----
From: Emil Bode <emil.bode at dans.knaw.nl>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2018 10:48 AM
To: Henrik P?rn <henrik.parn at ntnu.no>; r-devel at r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] named arguments discouraged in `[.data.frame` and `[<-
.data.frame`
Well, the situation with `[.data.frame` (and [<-) is complicated by the fact that
the data.frame-method is not a primitive, but the generic IS.
I'm not sure about dispatch for primitive-generics, but I bet it's done on the
first argument (as with S3). Which means `[`(j=1:2,d,i=1) has nothing to do
with `[.data.frame`, as some internal code equivalent to something like
`[.integer` is called (`[.integer` is not an R-function, but I guess it's
implemented in the C-code for `[`)
And note that `[.data.frame`(j=1:2,d,i=1) does work (throws a warning, but
returns the right result), because then you're simply calling the direct R-
function, and matching by name is done.
But I think the main reason for the warning is forwards compatibility (and
maybe backwards?). As of this version, `[.data.frame`(x = d, j = 2, i = 1) works
fine, and `[.data.frame` is a regular R-function. But it's used a lot, I wouldn't be
surprised if some future R-version would implement it as a primitive.
Without the warning, implementing [.data.frame as a primitive would involve
a LOT of issues where older code breaks. With the warning, we can make clear
to any users that calls like this one are undefined. They may work for now, but
one shouldn't rely on it. Which means only the "right" order may be used, and
then naming them is superfluous.
By the way, when trying some things I noticed something else, which I'll send
a separate mail about...
Cheers,
Emil
?On 29/11/2018, 09:20, "R-devel on behalf of Henrik P?rn" <r-devel-
bounces at r-project.org on behalf of henrik.parn at ntnu.no> wrote:
Thanks Bill and Michael for taking the time to share your knowledge!
As a further background to my question, here are two examples that I
forgot to include in my original post (reminded by Michael's answer). I
swapped the i and j arguments in `[.data.frame` and `[<-.data.frame`. With
warnings, but else without (?) problem. Using Bill's data:
`[.data.frame`(x = d, i = 1, j = 2)
# [1] 12
`[.data.frame`(x = d, j = 2, i = 1)
# [1] 12
And similar for `[<-.data.frame` :
`[<-.data.frame`(x = d, i = 1, j = 2, value = 1122)
`[<-.data.frame`(x = d, j = 2, i = 1, value = 12)
Because this seemed to work, I made the hasty conclusion that argument
switching _wasn't_ a problem for `[.data frame`, and that we could rely on
exact matching on tags. But apparently not: despite that `[.data.frame` and
`[<-.data.frame` are _not_ primitive functions, positional matching is done
there as well. Sometimes. At least when 'x' argument is not first, as shown in
Bill's examples. Obviously my "test" was insufficient...
Cheers,
Henrik
From: William Dunlap <wdunlap at tibco.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 9:10 PM
To: Henrik P?rn <henrik.parn at ntnu.no>
Cc: r-devel at r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] named arguments discouraged in `[.data.frame` and `[<-
.data.frame`
They can get bitten in the last two lines of this example, where the 'x'
argument is not first:
> d <- data.frame(C1=c(r1=11,r2=21,r3=31), C2=c(12,22,32))
> d[1,1:2]
C1 C2
r1 11 12
Warning message:
In `[.data.frame`(d, j = 1:2, i = 1) :
named arguments other than 'drop' are discouraged
Error in (1:2)[d, i = 1] : incorrect number of dimensions
> do.call("[", list(j=1:2, i=1, x=d))
Error in 1:2[i = 1, x = list(C1 = c(11, 21, 31), C2 = c(12, 22, 32))] :
incorrect number of dimensions
Bill Dunlap
TIBCO Software
wdunlap http://tibco.com
On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 11:30 AM Henrik P?rn
<mailto:henrik.parn at ntnu.no> wrote:
tl;dr:
Why are named arguments discouraged in `[.data.frame`, `[<-.data.frame`
and `[[.data.frame`?
(because this question is of the kind 'why is R designed like this?', I though
R-devel would be more appropriate than R-help)
#############################
Background:
Now and then students presents there fancy functions like this:
myfancyfun(d,12,0.3,0.2,500,1000,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE)
Incomprehensible. Thus, I encourage them to use spaces and name
arguments, _at least_ when trying to communicate their code with others.
Something like:
myfancyfun(data = d, n = 12, gamma = 0.3, prob = 0.2,
size = 500, niter = 1000, model = FALSE,
scale = TRUE, drop = FALSE, plot = TRUE, save = FALSE)
Then some overzealous students started to use named arguments
everywhere. E-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Even in the most basic situation when
indexing vectors (as a subtle protest?), like:
vec <- 1:9
vec[i = 4]
`[`(x = vec, i = 4)
vec[[i = 4]]
`[[`(x = vec, i = 4)
vec[i = 4] <- 10
`[<-`(x = vec, i = 4, value = 10)
...or when indexing matrices:
m <- matrix(vec, ncol = 3)
m[i = 2, j = 2]
`[`(x = m, i = 2, j = 2)
# 5
m[i = 2, j = 2] <- 0
`[<-`(x = m, i = 2, j = 2, value = 0)
######
This practice indeed feels like overkill, but it didn't seem to hurt either. Until
they used it on data frames. Then suddenly warnings appeared that named
arguments are discouraged:
d <- data.frame(m)
d[[i = "X2"]]
# [1] 4 5 6
# Warning message:
# In `[[.data.frame`(d, i = "X2") :
# named arguments other than 'exact' are discouraged
d[i = 2, j = 2]
# [1] 0
# Warning message:
# In `[.data.frame`(d, i = 2, j = 2) :
# named arguments other than 'drop' are discouraged
d[i = 2, j = 2] <- 5
# Warning message:
# In `[<-.data.frame`(`*tmp*`, i = 2, j = 2, value = 5) :
# named arguments are discouraged
##################################
Of course I could tell them "don't do it, it's overkill and not common
practice" or "it's just a warning, don't worry". However, I assume the warnings
are there for a good reason.
So how do I explain to the students that named arguments are actively
discouraged in `[.data.frame` and `[<-.data.frame`, but not in `[` and `[<-`?
When will they get bitten?