[Rd] matplot.Date & matplot.POSIXct

[Spencer Graves]

On 2020-01-28 05:13, Martin Maechler wrote:
>>>>>> Spencer Graves
>>>>>>      on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 23:02:28 -0600 writes:

<snip>
>
> Still, as Abby mentioned,  turning a simple function into the
> default method of an S3 generic is easy to do, but comes with a
> bit of cost, not just S3 dispatch which typically is negligable in
> graphics, but a bit of maintenance cost and mostly in this case
> the cost of breaking back compatibility by the improvement.
> How many plots will change where people have already relied on
> the current   as.numeric(x)   behavior?
> If we'd change this in R's graphics, it will be
> - me and/or the CRAN team who have to contact CRAN package
>    maintainer about problems
>    (maybe none, as the change may not break any checks)
>
> - Users of matplot() {& matlines() & matpoints()}  who may have to
>    adopt their calls to these functions {I'm pretty sure all
>    three would have to change for consistency}.
>
> ----- and then, there are quite a few other changes,  bug
>        assignments to which I have committed which should be
>        dealt with rather before this.
>
> If you'd turn this into a proper "wishlist"  "bug" report
> on R's bugzilla, *and* you or another volunteer provided a patch
> to the R sources (including changes to man/*.Rd, NAMESPACE, ..)
> which then can be tested to pass 'make check-all',
> then I'd definitely commit to this
> (possibly too late for R 4.0.0;  teaching starts here soon, etc).


       1.  What do you suggest I do to get acceptable copies of 
~man/matplot.Rd and ~R/matplot.R -- and preferably the entire "graphics" 
package, so I can do R CMD build, check, etc., as I've done for 15 years 
or so with other R packages?


       2.  Then you'd like me to revise matplot.Rd to include 
appropriate examples that work fine with fda::matplot but malfunction 
with graphics::malfunction, then revise matplot.R so it fixed the 
problem?  And you want a fix that does NOT convert "matplot" to generic, 
and retains the current "as.numeric(x)" step except when inherits(x, 
"Date") or inherits(x, "POSIXct")?


       3.  Then you want me to submit a "wishlist" "bug" report to 
"https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/index.cgi" including all changes to 
matplot.Rd and matplot.R?  If I don't convert "matplot" to generic, then 
there should be no need for changes to NAMESPACE, correct?


       An answer to question "1" with "yes" to questions "2" and "3" 
should get me started.


       Thanks,
       Spencer Graves
>
> Best,
> Martin
>
>      >       Thanks again for the reply.
>      >       Spencer Graves
>      >>
>      >> B.