[Rd] stopifnot() suggestion

[Dan Davison]

On Wed, 1 Mar 2006, Roger D. Peng wrote:

> Wouldn't it be better to do something like
>
> stopifnot(all(!is.na(x)), all(!is.na(y)), x, y)
>
> rather than have stopifnot() go checking for NAs?  I agree the message is 
> strange but if having non-NA values is really a condition, then why not just 
> put it in the call to stopifnot()?
>
> -roger
>

I was thinking of a fallible R user accidentally testing the truth of an 
expression with NAs, rather than of a situation where you remember that 
there may be missing values. For example

> f <- function() { x <- NA ; if(x != 4) stop("x should be 4") }
> g <- function() { x <- NA ; stopifnot(x == 4) }
> f()
Error in if (x != 4) stop("x should be 4") :
 	missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed
> g()
Error in if (!(is.logical(r <- eval(ll[[i]])) && all(r))) 
stop(paste(deparse(mc[[i +  :
 	missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed

If you write the error-checking code represented by f(), you get a message 
which is very helpful in correcting your error. But someone who uses 
stopifnot() instead gets the output of g(). Even a user who knows the 
origin of the code in the error message doesn't know which of several 
stopifnot()s is responsible.

Dan



> Dan Davison wrote:
>> If an expression is passed to stopifnot() which contains missing values, 
>> then the resulting error message is somewhat baffling until you are used to 
>> it, e.g.
>> 
>>> x <- y <- rep(TRUE, 10)
>>> y[7] <- NA
>>> stopifnot(x, y)
>> Error in if (!(is.logical(r <- eval(ll[[i]])) && all(r))) 
>> stop(paste(deparse(mc[[i +  :
>>  	missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed
>> 
>> A minor change to stopifnot() produces the following behaviour:
>> 
>>> stopifnot(x, y)
>> Error in stopifnot(x, y) : y contains missing values
>> 
>> My attempt at a suitable modification follows, and below that the original 
>> function definition. Is a change along these lines appropriate?
>> 
>> ## Altered version
>> 
>> stopifnot <- function (...) {
>>      n <- length(ll <- list(...))
>>      if (n == 0)
>>          return(invisible())
>>      mc <- match.call()
>>      for (i in 1:n) {
>>          if(any(is.na(r <- eval(ll[[i]])))) stop(paste(deparse(mc[[i + 
>> 1]])), " contains missing values")
>>          if (!(is.logical(r) && all(r)))
>>              stop(paste(deparse(mc[[i + 1]]), "is not TRUE"), call. = 
>> FALSE)
>>      }
>> }
>> 
>> 
>> ## from R-2.1.1/src/library/base/R/stop.R
>> 
>> stopifnot <- function(...)
>> {
>>      n <- length(ll <- list(...))
>>      if(n == 0)
>>          return(invisible())
>>      mc <- match.call()
>>      for(i in 1:n)
>>          if(!(is.logical(r <- eval(ll[[i]])) && all(r)))
>>              stop(paste(deparse(mc[[i+1]]), "is not TRUE"), call. = FALSE)
>> }
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Dan
>> 
>> 
>>> version
>>           _
>> platform i386-pc-linux-gnu
>> arch     i386
>> os       linux-gnu
>> system   i386, linux-gnu
>> status
>> major    2
>> minor    2.0
>> year     2005
>> month    10
>> day      06
>> svn rev  35749
>> language R
>> 
>> ----------
>> Dan Davison
>> Committee on Evolutionary Biology
>> University of Chicago, U.S.A.
>> 
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>> 
>
> -- 
> Roger D. Peng  |  http://www.biostat.jhsph.edu/~rpeng/
>