[R] Problem with names() in a plot after ordering a data.frame. Syntax or stupidity?

[John Kane]

I am a complete newbie in R .
   Using  R 2.2.0  Windows XP 
  
This started as a simple exercise to see if I could
produce a simple 
Cleveland style dotchart with a line from the '2' axis
to the dot rather 
than a continuous line as  do "dotchart" and
"dotchart2".  At least I could not 
find that option.

I got a crude program to work but it includes
unnecessary steps. 
The data in Area (below) is sorted in reverse order to
how I want it displayed 
I am doing to many 'sorts'  either a sort() or a rev()
to handle this problem.

When I change from sorting variables to using order()
on the data.frame I
lose my names() When I try to assign it, I get a NULL
return.  
It is probably a very simple error but I cannot find
it and I am not sure if
it is syntax error, a more serious misunderstanding of
the nature of the names()
function or a confusion about how a data.frame and
order() work.

Any help gratefully  received.  Thanks 

#-----------------------Read in
Data--------------------------------------------

Name <- c( "Nunavut", "Québec", "Northwest
Territories", "British Columbia",
           "Ontario",  "Alberta",  "Saskatchewan", 
"Manitoba", "Yukon",
         "Newfoundland",  "New Brunswick","Nova
Scotia", "Prince Edward Island")
         
Pcode <- c("NU","QC","NT","BC","ON",
"AB","SK","MB","YT","NL","NB","NS","PE")

Area <- c(1936113, 1365128, 1183085, 925186, 917741,
642317, 591670, 553556,
            474391, 373872, 71450, 53338, 5660)
 
 #  ------------------------Crude working
program------------------------------
 
provs <- data.frame(Name, Pcode, Area)
attach(provs)

numberProvs <- length(Pcode)

# This next step reverses the order of Pcode to make 
# the names match the sorted Area 

names(Area) <- rev(Pcode)       

Lines <- 1:numberProvs
plot(sort(Area), Lines, pch=20, col="red",  
      xlab = " Area", ylab= "Province or Territory",
axes=F)
axis( 2, at=Lines, labels=names(Area), las=1)
axis (1, labels= T)
xstart <- 0
xend <- Area
ystart <- rev(Lines)
yend <- rev(Lines)
arrows(xstart, ystart, xend, yend, col="red", length =
0)

# --------------End of Crude working
program-----------------------------

# --------------Revised program using order on the
data.frame-------------

provs <- data.frame(Name, Pcode, Area)
attach(provs)

numberProvs <- length(Pcode)

#  Reorder the dataframe
    
Sizes <- provs[order(Area),]
rm (provs)
Sizes

names(Sizes$Area) <- Sizes$Pcode)
Lines <- 1:numberProvs

plot(Sizes$Area, Lines, pch=20, col="red",  
      xlab = " Area", ylab= "Province or Territory",
axes=F)
axis( 2, at=Lines, labels=names(Sizes$Area), las=1)
axis (1, labels= T)
xstart <- 0
xend <- Area
ystart <- rev(Lines )
yend <- rev(Lines )
arrows(xstart, ystart, xend, yend, col="red", length =
0)

# -------------End of program using order()
John Kane, Kingston ON  Canada