R devel - May 2018 - Creating S3 methods for S4 classes (coming from r-package-devel)

Dear all,

I asked this question on r-package-devel but Martin Maechler pointed out
this was more suited on R-devel. So here it goes:

per the manual, one should create and register both the S3 and a S4 method
if one needs a method for an S4 class for a function using S3 dispatching.
This is cumbersome, and not very optimal.

I was wondering if there's a better way to do this. Currently I recreate a
generic in my package and create a default method that sends all the other
classes to the S3 generic, eg:

setGeneric("predict")
setMethod("predict", "ANY", stats::predict)

I'm not sure if this hasn't any adverse consequences, as it is not the
recommended approach.

It would be great if these generics could be made available through stats4.
If this would be the prefered route, I volunteer to create the patch for
that.

Any thoughts?
Cheers
Joris

(Original mail on r-package-devel :
https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-package-devel/2018q2/002757.html )


-- 
Joris Meys
Statistical consultant

Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling
Ghent University
Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
<https://maps.google.com/?q=Coupure+links+653,%C2%A0B-9000+Gent,%C2%A0Belgium&entry=gmail&source=g>

-----------
Biowiskundedagen 2017-2018
http://www.biowiskundedagen.ugent.be/

-------------------------------
Disclaimer : http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

You only have to make an S4 method if there is already an S4 generic.
If there is just an S3 generic, then just define S3 methods on it. I
think we should stay away from defining S4 generics when there is no
good reason for them. Good reasons include multiple dispatch, or a
non-default signature. Neither of those apply in this case.

Michael

On Thu, May 24, 2018 at 6:39 AM, Joris Meys <jorismeys at gmail.com>
wrote:
>  Dear all,
>
> I asked this question on r-package-devel but Martin Maechler pointed out
> this was more suited on R-devel. So here it goes:
>
> per the manual, one should create and register both the S3 and a S4 method
> if one needs a method for an S4 class for a function using S3 dispatching.
> This is cumbersome, and not very optimal.
>
> I was wondering if there's a better way to do this. Currently I
recreate a
> generic in my package and create a default method that sends all the other
> classes to the S3 generic, eg:
>
> setGeneric("predict")
> setMethod("predict", "ANY", stats::predict)
>
> I'm not sure if this hasn't any adverse consequences, as it is not
the
> recommended approach.
>
> It would be great if these generics could be made available through stats4.
> If this would be the prefered route, I volunteer to create the patch for
> that.
>
> Any thoughts?
> Cheers
> Joris
>
> (Original mail on r-package-devel :
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-package-devel/2018q2/002757.html )
>
>
> --
> Joris Meys
> Statistical consultant
>
> Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling
> Ghent University
> Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
>
<https://maps.google.com/?q=Coupure+links+653,%C2%A0B-9000+Gent,%C2%A0Belgium&entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> -----------
> Biowiskundedagen 2017-2018
> http://www.biowiskundedagen.ugent.be/
>
> -------------------------------
> Disclaimer : http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

On Thu, May 24, 2018 at 6:20 PM, Michael Lawrence <lawrence.michael at
gene.com
> wrote:
> You only have to make an S4 method if there is already an S4 generic.
> If there is just an S3 generic, then just define S3 methods on it.

I was refering to the recommendations in ?Methods_for_S3 (
https://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/methods/html/Methods_for_S3.html).
:

"Two possible mechanisms for implementing a method corresponding to an S4
class, there are two possibilities are to register it as an S3 method with
the S4 class name or to define and set an S4 method, which will have the
side effect of creating an S4 generic version of this function.

For most situations either works, but the recommended approach is to do
both:"

The reasoning is described there as well, and I have no reason to believe
that information is not up to date. I can get away with defining an S3
generic, but this stops being useful when using superclasses for reasons
mentioned in the documentation.

I
> think we should stay away from defining S4 generics when there is no
> good reason for them. Good reasons include multiple dispatch, or a
> non-default signature. Neither of those apply in this case.
>
I would personally prefer to use dispatching that's tailored to the type of
class I work with, as that seems more consistent. But I agree we should
avoid defining generics for the same function in different packages, hence
my proposal about stats4.


-- 
Joris Meys
Statistical consultant

Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling
Ghent University
Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
<https://maps.google.com/?q=Coupure+links+653,%C2%A0B-9000+Gent,%C2%A0Belgium&entry=gmail&source=g>

-----------
Biowiskundedagen 2017-2018
http://www.biowiskundedagen.ugent.be/

-------------------------------
Disclaimer : http://helpdesk.ugent.be/e-maildisclaimer.php

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]