[R] Re: R-1.2.3 terminology

[Ross Ihaka]

Bill Simpson wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 27 Apr 2001, Richard Rowe wrote:
> 
> > At 14:37 26/04/01 +0200, Peter D wrote:
> >
> > >dotchart() and stripchart() become the preferred names for dotplot() and
> > >stripplot(), respectively.  The old names are now deprecated.
> >
> > Why? dot plot is now a term in widespread use and of long standing (e.g.
> > Cleveland 1985, 1994 etc) ... so far as I know it has always and only had
> > one name. Altering terminology without a good (and consistent) reason isn't
> > helpful ... 'to find more about dotcharts look up "dot plots" in Cleveland
> > ... ' adds a level of translation, which is bad when teaching newcomers,
> 
> Yeah I agree with Richard.
> I never heard it called anything but dotplot. Why the new weird name? Can
> we change it back?
> 
> Bill

The equivalent function to "dotplot" in Splus is (and has always been)
called "dotchart".  The name in Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data"
is "Dot Chart".  I just mis-remembered the name when I wrote the R
function ... (Sorry! I know name changes are a pain.).

The Lattice functions will provide generalized functionality for
dotplot and stripplot -- i.e. they will serve the same pupose as the
existing functions, but they will do a lot more.

The point in marking the present functions deprecated is to signal that
the change is coming.  You will be able to use the present functions
under the old names by doing
	dotplot <- dotchart
	stripplot <- stripchart
but I think you will like the new stuff.

-- 
Ross Ihaka                         Email:  ihaka at stat.auckland.ac.nz
Department of Statistics           Phone:  (64-9) 373-7599 x 5054
University of Auckland             Fax:    (64-9) 373-7018
Private Bag 92019, Auckland
New Zealand
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._