[R] Unintended behaviour (possibly bugs)

Mon Feb 17 09:37:32 CET 2020

On Mon, Feb 17, 2020 at 10:24 AM Rui Barradas <ruipbarradas using sapo.pt> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Yes, this is definitely a bug.

I would argue that the only bug here is that the documentation doesn't
say that 'ylab' may not behave as expected.

dotchart() is mainly designed for 2-way tables (see the VADeaths
example), but it's implementation is really pretty hackish because it
has to work within the limited traditional graphics framework. The
main problem is that dot plots want to put horizontal y-axis labels
(usually derived from factor levels), which are often longer than the
default margins, so the margins are modified. Unfortunately they are
only re-set on exit, and so the ylab that is plotted inside dotchart()
may be clipped. Traditionally, Cleveland dot plots don't have a y-axis
label; it's assumed that the factor levels are sufficient (and for
2-way tables, there would be two variables, so there is no sensible
default).

I doubt that dotchart() is worth fixing (except to maybe disallow
ylab). If you want flexibility, use modern grid-based alternatives
such as lattice::dotplot() or ggplot2.

-Deepayan

> Even the matrix plot is puzzling, with a "1" as top row sort-of-label
> but no grid line. I'm trying to follow the source code of dotchart but
> am yet to understand exactly what it does to decide the margins settings.
>
>      if (!(is.null(labels) && is.null(glabels))) {
>        nmai <- par("mai")
>        nmai[2L] <- nmai[4L] + max(linch + goffset, ginch) +
>          0.1
>        par(mai = nmai)
>      }
>
> This should be moved to r-devel?
>
> Rui Barradas
>
> Às 03:33 de 17/02/20, Alexey Shipunov escreveu:
> > John and Rui, thanks!
> >
> > However, if we use the proper object, the problem still persists:
> >
> > dotchart(c("3"=1, "2"=2, "1"=3), ylab="Ylab") # ylab is invisible
> > dotchart(c("aa"=1, "b"=2, "cc"=3), ylab="Ylab") # ylab is partly visible (!!!)
> > dotchart(c("aaa"=1, "bbb"=2, "ccc"=3), ylab="Ylab") # ylab is well visible
> >
> > If the object is matrix, ylab is visible:
> >
> > dotchart(matrix(1:3, dimnames=list(c("aa","bb","cc"), NULL)), ylab="Ylab")
> >
> > But the ?dotchart explicitly says that "x: either a vector or matrix
> > of numeric values" and then "labels: a vector of labels for each
> > point.  For vectors the default is to use ‘names(x)’ ...".
> >
> > So this is likely a bug. Do you agree?
> >
> > Alexey
> >
> > пн, 17 февр. 2020 г. в 01:55, Rui Barradas <ruipbarradas using sapo.pt>:
> >>
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> I believe you are wrong, the error is not in dotchart, it's in your
> >> code. You assume that to plot an object of class "table" is the same as
> >> to plot an object of class "numeric".
> >>
> >> Inline.
> >>
> >> Às 12:21 de 16/02/20, Alexey Shipunov escreveu:
> >>> Dear list,
> >>>
> >>> I have been advised to share these with R-help instead of filling the
> >>> bug report:
> >>>
> >>> 1) dotchart() does not allow to see the left axis title ('ylab') and
> >>> cannot change the left margin (outer margin 2) of the plot
> >>>
> >>> The code:
> >>>
> >>> aa <- table(c(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3))
> >>> dotchart(aa, ylab="Ylab") # does not show 'ylab'
> >>
> >> You are right, it does *not* show 'ylab' but the user is warned.
> >>
> >>
> >> aa <- table(c(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3))
> >> dotchart(aa, ylab = "Ylab") # does show 'ylab'
> >> #Warning message:
> >> #In dotchart(aa, ylab = "Ylab") :
> >> #  'x' is neither a vector nor a matrix: using as.numeric(x)
> >>
> >>
> >> My code:
> >>
> >>
> >> (mar <- par("mar"))    # new R session
> >> #[1] 5.1 4.1 4.1 2.1   # the left margin is 4.1
> >>
> >> aa <- as.numeric(table(c(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3)))
> >>
> >> dotchart(aa, ylab = "Ylab") # It does show 'ylab'
> >> old.par <- par(mar = mar + c(0, 5, 0, 0))
> >> par("mar")
> >> #[1] 5.1 9.1 4.1 2.1
> >>
> >> dotchart(aa, ylab = "Ylab")  # The left margin is now 9.1, much bigger
> >>
> >> par(old.par)                 # It does change the left margin
> >> dotchart(aa, ylab = "Ylab")  #  but only when a new graph is plotted.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> old.par <- par(mar=c(1, 10, 1, 1)) ; dotchart(aa, ylab="Ylab") ;
> >>> par(old.par) # does not change left margin
> >>>
> >>> Possible solution:
> >>>
> >>> I researched the problem and think that the dotchart() code will need
> >>> few corrections. If there is an interest, I can post it here; or you
> >>> can look at the code of shipunov::Dotchart1() function.
> >>>
> >>> 2) example(hist) includes two "wrong" and "extreme" examples which
> >>> slow down and even crash R on some systems; this make it unsuitable
> >>> for demonstration in the class and strikes beginners in R who just
> >>> want to understand how hist() works. Actually, I did it last week (I
> >>> was not aware of these examples), and in the class two computers hang,
> >>> and many others were extremely slow.
> >>>
> >>> The code:
> >>>
> >>> example(hist)
> >>>
> >>> Possible solution:
> >>>
> >>> If R maintainers will enclose parts of "hist" example in \dontrun{},
> >>> this will allow to see the code but in the same time will not strike
> >>> beginners in R who just
> >>> want to understand how hist() works. They will still be possible to
> >>> run with example(..., run.dontrun=TRUE).
> >>
> >> Agree, it's annoying. Sometimes there's a Warning section after the
> >> Details section. Maybe such a section could get users' attention to
> >> those examples? At least it wouldn't hurt...
> >>
> >>
> >> Hope this helps,
> >>
> >> Rui Barradas
> >>
> >>>
> >>> With best wishes,
> >>>
> >>> Alexey Shipunov
> >>>
> >>> ______________________________________________
> >>> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> >>> 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.
> >>>
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> > 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.
> >
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> 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.