[R] R is GNU S, not C.... [was "how to get or store ....."]

[Dave Roberts]

Well, this has been an interesting thread.  I guess my own perspective 
is warped, having never been a C programmer.  My native languages are 
FORTRAN, python, and R, all of which accept (or demand) a linefeed as a 
terminator, rather than a semicolon, and two of which are very 
particular about whitespace.

Accepting for a moment Ted's argument about wanting to compact his code, 
the problem as I understand it is that ";" is a statement separator, not 
a statement terminator, so that Ted really does need all those ";" in 
between his statements on a single line, but that the last one implies a 
NULL statement on every line.  Given that the ";" facilitates compacting 
lines in vi (or vim), how about when the code is compacted you try

1,$s/;$//

which will remove all the final trailing ";" leaving the other necessary 
";" separators.

Dave R.

(Ted Harding) wrote:
> On 06-Dec-05 Martin Maechler wrote:
> 
>>[But really, I'm more concerned and quite bit disappointed by
>> the diehard ";" lovers]
>>
>>Martin Maechler
> 
> 
> Well, while not die-hard, I will put in my own little reason
> for often using ";" at the end of lines which don't need them.
> 
> Basically, this is done to protect me from myself (so in fact
> is quite a strong reason).
> 
> I tend to develop extended R code in a "side-window", using
> a text editor (vim) in that window, and cut&pasting the
> chunks of R code from that window into the R window.
> This usually means that I have a lot of short lines,
> since it is easier when developing code to work with the
> commands one per line, as they are easier to find and
> less likely to be "corrected" erroneously.
> 
> Finally, when when I am content that the code does the job
> I then put several short lines into one longer one.
> 
> For example (a function to do with sampling with probability
> proportional to weights); first, as written line-by-line:
> 
> myfunction <- function(X,n1,n2,n3,WTS){
>   N1<-n1;
>   N2<-n1+n2;
>   N3<-n1+n2+n3;
> # first selection
>   pii<-WTS/sum(WTS);
>   alpha<-N2;
>   Pi<-alpha*pii;
>   r<-runif(N3);
>   ix<-sort(which(r<=Pi));
> # second selection
>   ix0<-(1:N3);
>   ix3<-ix0[-ix];
>   ix20<-ix0[ix];
>   W<-WTS[ix];
>   pii<-W/sum(W);
>   Pi<-N1*pii;
>   r<-runif(length(Pi));
>   ix10<-sort(which(r<=Pi));
>   ix1<-ix20[ix10];
>   ix2<-ix20[-ix10];
> # return the results
>   list(X1=X[ix1],X2=X[ix2],X3=X[ix3],ix1=ix1,ix2=ix2,ix3=ix3)
> }
> 
> 
> Having got that function right, with 'vim' in command mode
> successive lines are readily brought up to the current line
> by simply pressing "J", which is very fast. This, in the
> above case, then results in
> 
> MARselect<-function(X,n1,n2,n3,WTS){
>   N1<-n1; N2<-n1+n2; N3<-n1+n2+n3;
> # first selection
>   pii<-WTS/sum(WTS); alpha<-N2; Pi<-alpha*pii;
>   r<-runif(N3); ix<-sort(which(r<=Pi));
> # second selection
> ix0<-(1:N3); ix3<-ix0[-ix]; ix20<-ix0[ix];
>   W<-WTS[ix]; pii<-W/sum(W); Pi<-N1*pii;
>   r<-runif(length(Pi)); ix10<-sort(which(r<=Pi));
>   ix1<-ix20[ix10]; ix2<-ix20[-ix10];
> # return the results
>   list(X1=X[ix1],X2=X[ix2],X3=X[ix3],ix1=ix1,ix2=ix2,ix3=ix3)
> }
> 
> The greater readability of the first relative to the second is
> obvious. The compactness of the second relative to the first
> is evident. Obtaining the second from the first by repeated "J"
> is very quick.
> 
> BUT -- if I had not put the ";" at the ends of the lines in the
> string-out version (which is easy to do as you type in the line
> in the first place), then it would be much more trouble to get
> the second version, and very easy to get it wrong!
> 
> Also, being long used to programming in C and octave/matlab,
> putting ";" at the end of a command is an easy reflex, and of
> course does no harm at all to an R command.
> 
> Not that I'm trying to encourage others to do the same as I
> do -- as I said, it's a self-protective habit -- but equally
> if people (e.g. me) may find it useful I don't think it should
> be discouraged either -- especially on "aesthetic" grounds!
> 
> Just my little bit ...
> 
> Best wishes,
> Ted.
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
> Date: 06-Dec-05                                       Time: 19:02:23
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David W. Roberts                                     office 406-994-4548
Professor and Head                                      FAX 406-994-3190
Department of Ecology                         email droberts at montana.edu
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