[R] Use and misuse of "update" function for non-models. Any views/recommendations??

[Gabor Grothendieck]

update already has formula and packageStatus methods so its
being extended beyond models already even within core packages.

On Nov 20, 2007 8:54 AM, Luke Tierney <luke at stat.uiowa.edu> wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Nov 2007, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
>
> > update() is generic, so the recommended approach would be to write a method
> > for your objects.
> >
> > Creating your own function update() in a package would probably not break too
> > much, as namespaces would protect most functions using the generic in stats.
> > But it could be very confusing to users.
>
> Maybe.  update is generic with a netral set of argument names; on the
> other hand, the _documentation_ of update is not generic -- it is
> specific to updating models. So there is opportunity for confusion
> from that direction.
>
> Best,
>
> luke
>
>
> >
> > On Tue, 20 Nov 2007, Søren Højsgaard wrote:
> >
> >> Dear all,
> >>
> >> I wonder if it is "bad style" (or something worse) to create an "update"
> >> function which does not work on model objects of the lm, glm etc. type.
> >> Specifically, I have some graph objects (graphs as mathematical objects,
> >> not as displays) which I want to alter and for that purpose I thought of
> >> writing an update function. Would doing so violate a "deeper philosophy" in
> >> the R system or have other unfortunate consequences. If so, I'm happy to
> >> hear other suggestions...
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Søren
> >>
> >> ______________________________________________
> >> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> >> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> >> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> >>
> >
> >
>
> --
> Luke Tierney
> Chair, Statistics and Actuarial Science
> Ralph E. Wareham Professor of Mathematical Sciences
> University of Iowa                  Phone:             319-335-3386
> Department of Statistics and        Fax:               319-335-3017
>    Actuarial Science
> 241 Schaeffer Hall                  email:      luke at stat.uiowa.edu
> Iowa City, IA 52242                 WWW:  http://www.stat.uiowa.edu
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>