How to write generic function with two inputs?





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I am a newbee in programming, and I run into an issue with R about generic function: how to write it when there are multiple inputs?



For an easy example, for dataset and function



z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
calc.simp <- function(a,x){a*x+8}
# Test the function:
calc.simp(x=z,a=3)
[1] 14 17 20 23 32


Now I change the class of z:
class(z) <- 'simp'
How should I write the generic function 'calc' as there are two inputs?
My attempts and errors are below:



calc <- function(x) UseMethod('calc',x)
calc(x=z)
Error in calc.simp(x = z) : argument "a" is missing, with no default


And



calc <- function(x,y) UseMethod('calc',x,y)
Error in UseMethod("calc", x, y) : unused argument (y)


My confusion might be a fundamental one as I am just a beginner. Please help! Thank you very much!










share|improve this question







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  • 1





    What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

    – MrFlick
    Apr 3 at 19:45













  • What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

    – Luis
    Apr 3 at 19:49











  • @MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

    – Branda Newbee
    Apr 3 at 19:58













  • question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

    – chinsoon12
    Apr 4 at 0:24


















10















I am a newbee in programming, and I run into an issue with R about generic function: how to write it when there are multiple inputs?



For an easy example, for dataset and function



z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
calc.simp <- function(a,x){a*x+8}
# Test the function:
calc.simp(x=z,a=3)
[1] 14 17 20 23 32


Now I change the class of z:
class(z) <- 'simp'
How should I write the generic function 'calc' as there are two inputs?
My attempts and errors are below:



calc <- function(x) UseMethod('calc',x)
calc(x=z)
Error in calc.simp(x = z) : argument "a" is missing, with no default


And



calc <- function(x,y) UseMethod('calc',x,y)
Error in UseMethod("calc", x, y) : unused argument (y)


My confusion might be a fundamental one as I am just a beginner. Please help! Thank you very much!










share|improve this question







New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
















  • 1





    What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

    – MrFlick
    Apr 3 at 19:45













  • What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

    – Luis
    Apr 3 at 19:49











  • @MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

    – Branda Newbee
    Apr 3 at 19:58













  • question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

    – chinsoon12
    Apr 4 at 0:24














10












10








10


1






I am a newbee in programming, and I run into an issue with R about generic function: how to write it when there are multiple inputs?



For an easy example, for dataset and function



z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
calc.simp <- function(a,x){a*x+8}
# Test the function:
calc.simp(x=z,a=3)
[1] 14 17 20 23 32


Now I change the class of z:
class(z) <- 'simp'
How should I write the generic function 'calc' as there are two inputs?
My attempts and errors are below:



calc <- function(x) UseMethod('calc',x)
calc(x=z)
Error in calc.simp(x = z) : argument "a" is missing, with no default


And



calc <- function(x,y) UseMethod('calc',x,y)
Error in UseMethod("calc", x, y) : unused argument (y)


My confusion might be a fundamental one as I am just a beginner. Please help! Thank you very much!










share|improve this question







New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I am a newbee in programming, and I run into an issue with R about generic function: how to write it when there are multiple inputs?



For an easy example, for dataset and function



z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
calc.simp <- function(a,x){a*x+8}
# Test the function:
calc.simp(x=z,a=3)
[1] 14 17 20 23 32


Now I change the class of z:
class(z) <- 'simp'
How should I write the generic function 'calc' as there are two inputs?
My attempts and errors are below:



calc <- function(x) UseMethod('calc',x)
calc(x=z)
Error in calc.simp(x = z) : argument "a" is missing, with no default


And



calc <- function(x,y) UseMethod('calc',x,y)
Error in UseMethod("calc", x, y) : unused argument (y)


My confusion might be a fundamental one as I am just a beginner. Please help! Thank you very much!







r generic-programming






share|improve this question







New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question







New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question






New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked Apr 3 at 19:36









Branda NewbeeBranda Newbee

534




534




New contributor




Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Branda Newbee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.








  • 1





    What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

    – MrFlick
    Apr 3 at 19:45













  • What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

    – Luis
    Apr 3 at 19:49











  • @MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

    – Branda Newbee
    Apr 3 at 19:58













  • question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

    – chinsoon12
    Apr 4 at 0:24














  • 1





    What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

    – MrFlick
    Apr 3 at 19:45













  • What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

    – Luis
    Apr 3 at 19:49











  • @MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

    – Branda Newbee
    Apr 3 at 19:58













  • question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

    – chinsoon12
    Apr 4 at 0:24








1




1





What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

– MrFlick
Apr 3 at 19:45







What do you expect to be returned from calc(x=z)? You aren't giving your function a value for a and your function depends on it. Also you can let your generic function know there may be other argumets with calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc',x)

– MrFlick
Apr 3 at 19:45















What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

– Luis
Apr 3 at 19:49





What do you want your function to do? Your first function (calc.simp) still works even after changing the class of z.

– Luis
Apr 3 at 19:49













@MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

– Branda Newbee
Apr 3 at 19:58







@MrFlick I simply want to test whether my generic function can work! It helps me understand the dispatch mechanism better. The 'function(x,...)' works perfectly for my question. Thank you so much! :)

– Branda Newbee
Apr 3 at 19:58















question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

– chinsoon12
Apr 4 at 0:24





question is about dispatching? didn't see this keyword anywhere on this page, hence adding it here.

– chinsoon12
Apr 4 at 0:24












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















9














I'd suggest you model your generic function off of the template used by innumerable base R functions as, e.g., mean:



> mean
function (x, ...)
UseMethod("mean")


In your case, that would translate to the following generic which (if I understand your question correctly) works just fine:



calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc')

calc.simp <- function(a, x) {
x <- unclass(x)
a * x + 8
}


## Try it out

z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
class(z) <- "simp"

calc.simp(x = z, 10)
## [1] 28 38 48 58 88

calc(x = z, 10)
## [1] 28 38 48 58 88





share|improve this answer


























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    1 Answer
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    oldest

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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

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    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    9














    I'd suggest you model your generic function off of the template used by innumerable base R functions as, e.g., mean:



    > mean
    function (x, ...)
    UseMethod("mean")


    In your case, that would translate to the following generic which (if I understand your question correctly) works just fine:



    calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc')

    calc.simp <- function(a, x) {
    x <- unclass(x)
    a * x + 8
    }


    ## Try it out

    z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
    class(z) <- "simp"

    calc.simp(x = z, 10)
    ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88

    calc(x = z, 10)
    ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88





    share|improve this answer






























      9














      I'd suggest you model your generic function off of the template used by innumerable base R functions as, e.g., mean:



      > mean
      function (x, ...)
      UseMethod("mean")


      In your case, that would translate to the following generic which (if I understand your question correctly) works just fine:



      calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc')

      calc.simp <- function(a, x) {
      x <- unclass(x)
      a * x + 8
      }


      ## Try it out

      z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
      class(z) <- "simp"

      calc.simp(x = z, 10)
      ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88

      calc(x = z, 10)
      ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88





      share|improve this answer




























        9












        9








        9







        I'd suggest you model your generic function off of the template used by innumerable base R functions as, e.g., mean:



        > mean
        function (x, ...)
        UseMethod("mean")


        In your case, that would translate to the following generic which (if I understand your question correctly) works just fine:



        calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc')

        calc.simp <- function(a, x) {
        x <- unclass(x)
        a * x + 8
        }


        ## Try it out

        z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
        class(z) <- "simp"

        calc.simp(x = z, 10)
        ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88

        calc(x = z, 10)
        ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88





        share|improve this answer















        I'd suggest you model your generic function off of the template used by innumerable base R functions as, e.g., mean:



        > mean
        function (x, ...)
        UseMethod("mean")


        In your case, that would translate to the following generic which (if I understand your question correctly) works just fine:



        calc <- function(x, ...) UseMethod('calc')

        calc.simp <- function(a, x) {
        x <- unclass(x)
        a * x + 8
        }


        ## Try it out

        z <- c(2,3,4,5,8)
        class(z) <- "simp"

        calc.simp(x = z, 10)
        ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88

        calc(x = z, 10)
        ## [1] 28 38 48 58 88






        share|improve this answer














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        edited Apr 3 at 20:04

























        answered Apr 3 at 19:59









        Josh O'BrienJosh O'Brien

        130k18280390




        130k18280390
























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