R devel - May 2019 - print.<strorageMode>() not called when autoprinting

It also is a problem with storage.modes "integer" and
"complex":

3.6.0> print.integer <- function(x,...) "integer vector"
                3.6.0> 1:10
 [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
3.6.0> print(1:10)
[1] "integer vector"
3.6.0>
3.6.0> print.complex <- function(x, ...) "complex vector"
3.6.0> 1+2i
[1] 1+2i
3.6.0> print(1+2i)
[1] "complex vector"

Bill Dunlap
TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com


On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 9:31 AM Martin Maechler <maechler at
stat.math.ethz.ch>
wrote:
> >>>>> William Dunlap via R-devel
> >>>>>     on Thu, 16 May 2019 11:56:45 -0700 writes:
>
>     > In R-3.6.0 autoprinting was changed so that print methods for the
> storage
>     > modes are not called when there is no explicit class attribute.
>  E.g.,
>
>     > % R-3.6.0 --vanilla --quiet
>     >> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function
with argument
> list ");
>     > cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
>     >> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>     >> f
>     > function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>     >> print(f)
>     > Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>
>     > Previous to R-3.6.0 autoprinting did call such methods
>     > % R-3.5.3 --vanilla --quiet
>     >> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function
with argument
> list ");
>     > cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
>     >> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>     >> f
>     > Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>     >> print(f)
>     > Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>
>     > Was this intentional?
>
> No, it was not.  ... and I've been the one committing the wrong change.
>
> ... Related to the NEWS entries which start
>
>      "Changes in print.*() ...."
>
> Thank you Bill, for reporting....
>
> It's amazing this has not been detected earlier by anybody.
>
> I think it is *only* for functions, not general
> print.<storagemode>() as you were suggesting - right?
>
> Martin
>
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FWIW it was the intention of the patch to make printing of unclassed
functions consistent with other base types. This was documented in the
"patch 3" section:

https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17398

I think we need a general way to customise auto-printing for base types
and even classed objects as that'd be useful for both users and IDEs.

However S3 dispatch may not be optimal for this because it essentially
requires polluting the global environment with print methods. Maybe
it'd make sense to add getOption("autoprint") which should be set
to
a user- or environment- supplied function. That function would do the
dispatch. I'd be happy to send a patch for this, if it makes sense.

Best,
Lionel

> On 21 May 2019, at 13:38, William Dunlap via R-devel <r-devel at
r-project.org> wrote:
> 
> It also is a problem with storage.modes "integer" and
"complex":
> 
> 3.6.0> print.integer <- function(x,...) "integer vector"
>                3.6.0> 1:10
> [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
> 3.6.0> print(1:10)
> [1] "integer vector"
> 3.6.0>
> 3.6.0> print.complex <- function(x, ...) "complex vector"
> 3.6.0> 1+2i
> [1] 1+2i
> 3.6.0> print(1+2i)
> [1] "complex vector"
> 
> Bill Dunlap
> TIBCO Software
> wdunlap tibco.com
> 
> 
> On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 9:31 AM Martin Maechler <maechler at
stat.math.ethz.ch>
> wrote:
> 
>>>>>>> William Dunlap via R-devel
>>>>>>>    on Thu, 16 May 2019 11:56:45 -0700 writes:
>> 
>>> In R-3.6.0 autoprinting was changed so that print methods for the
>> storage
>>> modes are not called when there is no explicit class attribute.
>> E.g.,
>> 
>>> % R-3.6.0 --vanilla --quiet
>>>> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function with
argument
>> list ");
>>> cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
>>>> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>>>> f
>>> function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>>>> print(f)
>>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>> 
>>> Previous to R-3.6.0 autoprinting did call such methods
>>> % R-3.5.3 --vanilla --quiet
>>>> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function with
argument
>> list ");
>>> cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
>>>> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
>>>> f
>>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>>>> print(f)
>>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
>> 
>>> Was this intentional?
>> 
>> No, it was not.  ... and I've been the one committing the wrong
change.
>> 
>> ... Related to the NEWS entries which start
>> 
>>     "Changes in print.*() ...."
>> 
>> Thank you Bill, for reporting....
>> 
>> It's amazing this has not been detected earlier by anybody.
>> 
>> I think it is *only* for functions, not general
>> print.<storagemode>() as you were suggesting - right?
>> 
>> Martin
>> 
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

Letting a user supply the autoprint function would be nice also.  In a way
you can already do that, using addTaskCallback(), but that doesn't let you
suppress the standard autoprinting.

Having the default autoprinting do its own style of method dispatch doesn't
seem right.

Bill Dunlap
TIBCO Software
wdunlap tibco.com


On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 10:50 AM Lionel Henry <lionel at rstudio.com>
wrote:
> FWIW it was the intention of the patch to make printing of unclassed
> functions consistent with other base types. This was documented in the
> "patch 3" section:
>
> https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17398
>
> I think we need a general way to customise auto-printing for base types
> and even classed objects as that'd be useful for both users and IDEs.
>
> However S3 dispatch may not be optimal for this because it essentially
> requires polluting the global environment with print methods. Maybe
> it'd make sense to add getOption("autoprint") which should be
set to
> a user- or environment- supplied function. That function would do the
> dispatch. I'd be happy to send a patch for this, if it makes sense.
>
> Best,
> Lionel
>
>
> > On 21 May 2019, at 13:38, William Dunlap via R-devel <
> r-devel at r-project.org> wrote:
> >
> > It also is a problem with storage.modes "integer" and
"complex":
> >
> > 3.6.0> print.integer <- function(x,...) "integer
vector"
> >                3.6.0> 1:10
> > [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
> > 3.6.0> print(1:10)
> > [1] "integer vector"
> > 3.6.0>
> > 3.6.0> print.complex <- function(x, ...) "complex
vector"
> > 3.6.0> 1+2i
> > [1] 1+2i
> > 3.6.0> print(1+2i)
> > [1] "complex vector"
> >
> > Bill Dunlap
> > TIBCO Software
> > wdunlap tibco.com
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 9:31 AM Martin Maechler <
> maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>>>>>> William Dunlap via R-devel
> >>>>>>>    on Thu, 16 May 2019 11:56:45 -0700 writes:
> >>
> >>> In R-3.6.0 autoprinting was changed so that print methods for
the
> >> storage
> >>> modes are not called when there is no explicit class
attribute.
> >> E.g.,
> >>
> >>> % R-3.6.0 --vanilla --quiet
> >>>> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function
with argument
> >> list ");
> >>> cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
> >>>> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
> >>>> f
> >>> function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
> >>>> print(f)
> >>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
> >>
> >>> Previous to R-3.6.0 autoprinting did call such methods
> >>> % R-3.5.3 --vanilla --quiet
> >>>> print.function <- function(x, ...) { cat("Function
with argument
> >> list ");
> >>> cat(sep="\n    ", head(deparse(args(x)), -1));
invisible(x) }
> >>>> f <- function(x, ...) { sum( x * seq_along(x) ) }
> >>>> f
> >>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
> >>>> print(f)
> >>> Function with argument list function (x, ...)
> >>
> >>> Was this intentional?
> >>
> >> No, it was not.  ... and I've been the one committing the
wrong change.
> >>
> >> ... Related to the NEWS entries which start
> >>
> >>     "Changes in print.*() ...."
> >>
> >> Thank you Bill, for reporting....
> >>
> >> It's amazing this has not been detected earlier by anybody.
> >>
> >> I think it is *only* for functions, not general
> >> print.<storagemode>() as you were suggesting - right?
> >>
> >> Martin
> >>
> >
> >       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]