Peter: (Your function doesn't work -- you need to specify runif(1))
What ambiguity? In the assignment within f(), x <- x+1, the "x" on the rhs is a free variable in the function, and is therefore looked for in the environment where the function was defined. The x on the lhs is defined within the function only. No matter what f() returns, x remains 1 in the environment from which f is called. The function does not "return x" -- it returns a value, which you can assign as you wish. So ??? (and apologies if I'm missing something obvious). Cheers, Bert On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 9:11 PM, Peter Meilstrup <peter.meilst...@gmail.com> wrote: > When complex assignments are performed, the R interpreter creates, then > removes a special variable *tmp*. However, when byte compiling is enabled, > it seems that a different mechanism for making compound assignments is used. > > Would it be possible to eliminate *tmp* from interpreted R code as well? It > might be useful for a function to lock its own environment, and the > appearance and disappearance of *tmp* generally precludes that. > > (For example, a function might lock its own environment to guard against > lexical-scope-breaking ambiguities such as > > x <- 1 > f <- function() { > if (runif() < 0.5) { > x <- x+1 > } > x > } > > where it is not clear where the returned x comes from inside or outside f.) > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel -- Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics Internal Contact Info: Phone: 467-7374 Website: http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel