rmh@surfer.sbm.temple.edu
2002-Mar-13 07:45 UTC
[Rd] several bugs (PR#918) lists and matrices
### I got bit again by the same bugs I wrote about a year ago. ### The bugs are related to matrices and arrays of lists. ### 1. There is a clear inconsistency in how R handles two ### functionally equivalent statements. ### array() is able to take a list and create a matrix. ### matrix() is unable to create that matrix.> vector("list", 2)[[1]] NULL [[2]] NULL> array(vector("list", 2), dim=c(2,1))[,1] [1,] "NULL" [2,] "NULL"> tmpa <- array(vector("list", 2), dim=c(2,1)) > class(tmpa)NULL> is.array(tmpa)[1] TRUE> is.matrix(tmpa)[1] TRUE> tmpm <- matrix(vector("list", 2), nrow=2)Error in matrix(vector("list", 2), nrow = 2) : Unimplemented feature in copyVector>### 2. Here the matrix single-[ subscript is doing the wrong thing, ### without giving a warning.> tmp <- array(vector("list", 2), 1:2) > tmp[,1] [,2] [1,] "NULL" "NULL"> tmp[1][[1]] NULL> tmp[[1]]NULL> tmp[1,1][[1]] NULL> tmp[[1,1]]NULL> list("abc")[[1]] [1] "abc"> tmp[1] <- list("abc") ## assignment > tmp[1][[1]] [1] "abc"> tmp[[1]][1] "abc"> tmp[1,1] ## incorrect retrieval[[1]] NULL> tmp[[1,1]][1] "abc"> tmp[1,2] <- list("def") ## refuse to do similar assignmentError: incompatible types in subset assignment>### 3. subsetting a vector of lists doesn't behave the way I anticipate. ### It looks like NULL is not handled consistently inside a vector. ### Sometimes it can be an element, sometimes not.> tmpv <- vector("list", 2) > tmpv[[1]] NULL [[2]] NULL> tmpv[1] <- "abcd" ## I assigned to the first element. > tmpv ## Both elements are still here.[[1]] [1] "abcd" [[2]] NULL> tmpv[1] <- NULL ## I assigned to the first element. > tmpv ## The second element is gone.[[1]] NULL>### This time the issue came up in an attempt to make abind work with R. ### abind() is a generalization of rbind and cbind to arrays. ### Tony Plate and I posted it to StatLib in 1996 ### (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/S/abind). ### I would like you to consider adding abind to R. ### The posted abind doesn't work in R, for the reasons above and due to ### a difference in behavior of match.call between S -Plusand R that I am ### reporting in a separate bug report. ### There are two revised files, currently available at ### http://surfer.sbm.temple.edu/~rmh/abind.r ### http://surfer.sbm.temple.edu/~rmh/abind.test.in.r ### The documentation in statlib applies to these files. ### I will update the statlib version after I understand why R differs.> version_ platform i386-pc-mingw32 arch x86 os Win32 system x86, Win32 status major 1 minor 4.1 year 2002 month 01 day 30 language R>-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-devel mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-devel-request@stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
Points 1 and 2 are already fixed in R-devel, as I did indicate on R-help,
yesterday.
Point 3 is in the FAQ, no less:
* In R, if `x' is a list, then `x[i] <- NULL' and `x[[i]] <-
NULL'
remove the specified elements from `x'. The first of these is
incompatible with S, where it is a no-op. (Note that you can set
elements to `NULL' using `x[i] <- list(NULL)'.)
Please don't mix up unrelated reports: point 3 has nothing to do with
matrix lists.
On Wed, 13 Mar 2002 rmh@surfer.sbm.temple.edu wrote:
> ### I got bit again by the same bugs I wrote about a year ago.
> ### The bugs are related to matrices and arrays of lists.
>
> ### 1. There is a clear inconsistency in how R handles two
> ### functionally equivalent statements.
> ### array() is able to take a list and create a matrix.
> ### matrix() is unable to create that matrix.
>
>
> > vector("list", 2)
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> [[2]]
> NULL
>
> > array(vector("list", 2), dim=c(2,1))
> [,1]
> [1,] "NULL"
> [2,] "NULL"
> > tmpa <- array(vector("list", 2), dim=c(2,1))
> > class(tmpa)
> NULL
> > is.array(tmpa)
> [1] TRUE
> > is.matrix(tmpa)
> [1] TRUE
> > tmpm <- matrix(vector("list", 2), nrow=2)
> Error in matrix(vector("list", 2), nrow = 2) :
> Unimplemented feature in copyVector
> >
>
>
>
>
> ### 2. Here the matrix single-[ subscript is doing the wrong thing,
> ### without giving a warning.
>
> > tmp <- array(vector("list", 2), 1:2)
> > tmp
> [,1] [,2]
> [1,] "NULL" "NULL"
> > tmp[1]
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> > tmp[[1]]
> NULL
> > tmp[1,1]
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> > tmp[[1,1]]
> NULL
> > list("abc")
> [[1]]
> [1] "abc"
>
> > tmp[1] <- list("abc") ## assignment
> > tmp[1]
> [[1]]
> [1] "abc"
>
> > tmp[[1]]
> [1] "abc"
> > tmp[1,1] ## incorrect retrieval
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> > tmp[[1,1]]
> [1] "abc"
>
> > tmp[1,2] <- list("def") ## refuse to do similar
assignment
> Error: incompatible types in subset assignment
> >
>
>
>
> ### 3. subsetting a vector of lists doesn't behave the way I
anticipate.
> ### It looks like NULL is not handled consistently inside a vector.
> ### Sometimes it can be an element, sometimes not.
>
> > tmpv <- vector("list", 2)
> > tmpv
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> [[2]]
> NULL
>
> > tmpv[1] <- "abcd" ## I assigned to the first element.
> > tmpv ## Both elements are still here.
> [[1]]
> [1] "abcd"
>
> [[2]]
> NULL
>
> > tmpv[1] <- NULL ## I assigned to the first element.
> > tmpv ## The second element is gone.
> [[1]]
> NULL
>
> >
>
>
>
> ### This time the issue came up in an attempt to make abind work with R.
> ### abind() is a generalization of rbind and cbind to arrays.
> ### Tony Plate and I posted it to StatLib in 1996
> ### (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/S/abind).
>
> ### I would like you to consider adding abind to R.
> ### The posted abind doesn't work in R, for the reasons above and due
to
> ### a difference in behavior of match.call between S -Plusand R that I am
> ### reporting in a separate bug report.
> ### There are two revised files, currently available at
> ### http://surfer.sbm.temple.edu/~rmh/abind.r
> ### http://surfer.sbm.temple.edu/~rmh/abind.test.in.r
> ### The documentation in statlib applies to these files.
> ### I will update the statlib version after I understand why R differs.
>
> > version
> _
> platform i386-pc-mingw32
> arch x86
> os Win32
> system x86, Win32
> status
> major 1
> minor 4.1
> year 2002
> month 01
> day 30
> language R
> >
>
>
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--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
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(in the "body", not the subject !) To:
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