R devel - Dec 2020 - New pipe operator

> This is a good addition
I can't understand why so many people are calling this a "pipe".
Pipes connect processes, via their I/O streams.
Arguably, a more general interpretation would include sockets and files.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named_pipe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_pipe

As far as I can tell, the magrittr-like operators are functions (not
pipes), with nonstandard syntax.
This is not consistent with R's original design philosophy, building
on C, Lisp and S, along with lots of *important* math and stats.

It's possible that some parties are interested in creating a kind of
"data pipeline".
I'm interested in this myself, and I think we could discuss this more.
But I'm not convinced the magrittr-like operators help to achieve this goal.
Which, in my opinion, would require one to model programs as directed
graphs, along with some degree of asynchronous input.

Presumably, these operators will be added to R anyway, and (almost) no
one will listen to me.

So, I would like to make one suggestion:
Is it possible for these operators to *not* be named:
    The R Pipe
    The S Pipe
    Or anything with a similar meaning.

Maybe tidy pipe, or something else that links it to its proponents?

If we?re being mathematically pedantic, the ?pipe? operator is actually
function composition.

That being said, pipes are a simple and well-known idiom. While being less
than mathematically exact, it seems a reasonable   label for the (very
useful) behavior.

On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 9:43 PM Abby Spurdle <spurdle.a at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > This is a good addition
>
> I can't understand why so many people are calling this a
"pipe".
> Pipes connect processes, via their I/O streams.
> Arguably, a more general interpretation would include sockets and files.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix)
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named_pipe
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_pipe
>
> As far as I can tell, the magrittr-like operators are functions (not
> pipes), with nonstandard syntax.
> This is not consistent with R's original design philosophy, building
> on C, Lisp and S, along with lots of *important* math and stats.
>
> It's possible that some parties are interested in creating a kind of
> "data pipeline".
> I'm interested in this myself, and I think we could discuss this more.
> But I'm not convinced the magrittr-like operators help to achieve this
> goal.
> Which, in my opinion, would require one to model programs as directed
> graphs, along with some degree of asynchronous input.
>
> Presumably, these operators will be added to R anyway, and (almost) no
> one will listen to me.
>
> So, I would like to make one suggestion:
> Is it possible for these operators to *not* be named:
>     The R Pipe
>     The S Pipe
>     Or anything with a similar meaning.
>
> Maybe tidy pipe, or something else that links it to its proponents?
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>
-- 
"Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of
public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to
the several States to take the most effectual measures for the
encouragement thereof." Continental Congress, 1778

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]