In a separate thread Jeff Newmiller wrote:> rm(list=ls()) is a bad practice... especially when posting examples. It doesn't clean out everything and it removes objects created by the user.This query is to ask 1) Why is it bad practice to clear the workspace when presenting an example? I'm assuming here that people who will try R-help examples will not run them in the middle of something else, which I agree would be unfortunates. However, one of the not very nice aspects of R is that it is VERY easy to have stuff hanging around (including overloaded functions and operators) that get you into trouble, and indeed make it harder to reproduce those important "minimal reproducible examples". This includes the .RData contents. (For information, I can understand the attraction, but I seem to have been burned much more often than I've benefited from a pre-warmed oven.) 2) Is there a good command that really does leave a blank workspace? For testing purposes, it would be useful to have an assured blank canvas. This post is definitely not to start an argument, but to try to find ways to reduce the possibilities for unanticipated outcomes in examples. Cheers, JN
Do you mean: rm(list = ls(all = TRUE)) ? ... or something else? Bert Gunter "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along and sticking things into it." -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip ) On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 2:21 PM J C Nash <profjcnash at gmail.com> wrote:> In a separate thread Jeff Newmiller wrote: > > rm(list=ls()) is a bad practice... especially when posting examples. It > doesn't clean out everything and it removes objects created by the user. > > This query is to ask > > 1) Why is it bad practice to clear the workspace when presenting an > example? > I'm assuming here that people who will try R-help examples will not run > them in the > middle of something else, which I agree would be unfortunates. However, > one of the > not very nice aspects of R is that it is VERY easy to have stuff hanging > around (including > overloaded functions and operators) that get you into trouble, and indeed > make it harder > to reproduce those important "minimal reproducible examples". This > includes the .RData > contents. (For information, I can understand the attraction, but I seem to > have been > burned much more often than I've benefited from a pre-warmed oven.) > > 2) Is there a good command that really does leave a blank workspace? For > testing > purposes, it would be useful to have an assured blank canvas. > > This post is definitely not to start an argument, but to try to find ways > to reduce > the possibilities for unanticipated outcomes in examples. > > Cheers, JN > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
On 21/01/2021 5:20 p.m., J C Nash wrote:> In a separate thread Jeff Newmiller wrote: >> rm(list=ls()) is a bad practice... especially when posting examples. It doesn't clean out everything and it removes objects created by the user. > > This query is to ask > > 1) Why is it bad practice to clear the workspace when presenting an example? > I'm assuming here that people who will try R-help examples will not run them in the > middle of something else, which I agree would be unfortunates.I think that's exactly the concern. I doubt it would have happened in this instance, but in other cases, people might copy and paste a complete example before reading it. It's safer to say: "Run this code in a clean workspace:", rather than cleaning it out yourself. Duncan Murdoch However, one of the> not very nice aspects of R is that it is VERY easy to have stuff hanging around (including > overloaded functions and operators) that get you into trouble, and indeed make it harder > to reproduce those important "minimal reproducible examples". This includes the .RData > contents. (For information, I can understand the attraction, but I seem to have been > burned much more often than I've benefited from a pre-warmed oven.) > > 2) Is there a good command that really does leave a blank workspace? For testing > purposes, it would be useful to have an assured blank canvas.Yes, start R with R --vanilla Duncan Murdoch> > This post is definitely not to start an argument, but to try to find ways to reduce > the possibilities for unanticipated outcomes in examples. > > Cheers, JN > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >