Message-ID: <BANLkTinDPdeXsexjJ+SjcD1peL-88YJhUA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: 2011-04-09T01:55:33Z
From: Gabor Grothendieck
Subject: best practice(s) for retrieving a local variable from a closure
In-Reply-To: <4D9FBAD5.7070801@gmail.com>
On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Benjamin Tyner <btyner at gmail.com> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Say I have defined
>
> ?mp <- function(a) function(x) x^a
>
> ?f2 <- mp(2)
>
> and I would like to retrieve the "a" which is local to f2. Two options come
> to mind;
>
> ?get("a", envir=environment(f2))
> ?eval(substitute(a), environment(f2))
>
> I'm curious if one of these is preferred over the other in terms of
> efficiency, robustness, aesthetics, etc. Or perhaps someone can share
> another way to skin this cat, besides wrappers around eval() like
>
> ?evalq(a, environment(f2))
> ?with(environment(f2), a)
>
> Also, I'd like to confirm that I have used the correct terminology in the
> subject line, that "a" is a local variable with respect to f2, which is a
> closure?
>
Solutions involving eval tend to be less preferred. "a" is termed a
free variable of f2.
--
Statistics & Software Consulting
GKX Group, GKX Associates Inc.
tel: 1-877-GKX-GROUP
email: ggrothendieck at gmail.com