stats:: spline's method could not be monoH.FC

Abby: Just one other thing. A friend of mine recommended reading the
R-language manual which I haven't read in many years.
I don't  know if it's because I'm more expeRienced or just plain oldeR but
I started it today and it's not nearly as daunting as I remember it
being in the past. It's going to take me some time but  I highly recommend
checking it out if you haven't already. Maybe it's like
a fine wine and just gets better with age !!!!!!! Good luck.


Mark





---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Abby Spurdle <spurdle.a at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, May 3, 2020 at 6:19 AM
Subject: Re: [R] stats:: spline's method could not be monoH.FC
To: Mark Leeds <markleeds2 at gmail.com>
Cc: Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch>, Samuel Granjeaud
IR/Inserm <samuel.granjeaud at inserm.fr>, r-help <r-help at r-project.org>


Hi Mark,

The article is good.
However, there's still some grey areas.

The documentation for base::typeof equates a closure with a function.
However, the article defines a closure as a function together with an
environment.
A very minor difference I know, but it creates the problem that the
word closure is used inconsistently.
And that's without even getting into "frames".

Equating a closure with a function (only), is perhaps misleading...???

Also, re-iterating I use function objects with attributes.
(I prefer this approach, because I can make copies of function
objects, and if necessary modify them).
My guess is that doesn't meet the definition of an R closure (if you
ignore the environment)...???, and it's unclear whether it meets the
definition of a closure, more generally...???

So, I've still got the same problem, of how to refer to functions that
have *either* attributes *or* environments, containing data.
Maybe I should just stick to "Self-Referencing Function Objects" and
"Functions Bundled with Data"...???

One last thing, the last time I read S4 documentation, I couldn't tell
if it was possible to have S4-based function objects, and if so, could
the body of the S4-based function object (while being called) access
it's own slots...???

Abby: Here is an article on environments/closures which might be useful

to you. I was reviewing environments recently and it

was a clear explanation of how environments/closures work in R. Even

though it's from 2000, I'm pretty certain that everything

said in it still holds.