R devel - Oct 2003 - An artifact of base being namespace

Function in the base library of R 1.8.0 seems to use a search path with 
base coming before the local environment. I think this is intentional 
and is related to base being a namespace.

 > log <- function(x, base) 200
 > log(1)
[1] 200
 > log10
function (x)
log(x, 10)
<environment: namespace:base>
 > log10(1)
[1] 0
 >

This is most problematic when you are creating a generic for an 
existing function in base (as you very well could for log). This often 
makes the ability to make new generics out of existing functions 
somewhat useless.

>>>>> "Saikat" == Saikat DebRoy
<saikat@stat.wisc.edu>
>>>>>     on Thu, 9 Oct 2003 11:41:01 -0400 writes:
    Saikat> Function in the base library of R 1.8.0 seems to use
    Saikat> a search path with base coming before the local
    Saikat> environment. I think this is intentional and is
    Saikat> related to base being a namespace.

yes (intended and because base is a namespace).

     > log <- function(x, base) 200
     > log(1)
    [1] 200
     > log10
    function (x)
    log(x, 10)
    <environment: namespace:base>
     > log10(1)
    [1] 0
     >

    Saikat> This is most problematic when you are creating a
    Saikat> generic for an existing function in base (as you
    Saikat> very well could for log). This often makes the
    Saikat> ability to make new generics out of existing
    Saikat> functions somewhat useless.

Assuming you're right, I'm much less sure that this consequence
has been intended in all situations.  But I'd need to see
concrete examples to understand your last sentence.

Martin