On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 22:19:46 -0000 (GMT) (Ted Harding) wrote: > On 08-Feb-05 Kurt Hornik wrote: > > Afaic, one of the issues is that it seems common practice to refer > > to collections of code as "libraries" or "packages", and we're > > trying to use these rather general-purpose terms in a very precise > > meaning, and obviously not very successful, in particular because > > the use of"library" is highly non-standard. One idea might be to > > replace the"library" by something else like ... "a place where R > > knows where to find packages" ... hmm, now that's too long, so ... > > The only issue I have with "library" vs "package" (or vice versa) > is the following. > > I *know* that a collection of functions etc. (such as nlme) is > properly called a "package". I could (and do) get ticked off if > I refer to it as a "library". > > However, if I want to use it then I enter > > library(nlme) > > As a result, the little daemons who potter around re-wiring > my mental circuits sometimes cross-connect these two. As a > result, I can inadvertently refer to "the nlme library". > > An example is a recent mailing of mine to the list where > I twice referred to a certain "library" (and was amiably > rebuked by Martic Maechler) -- but then I saw that I had > also twice referred to the same "package" in the same mail! > > Personally I don't mind whether it is called "package" or > "library", though using the command library() to load a > package does tend, as described, to get me treading on my > own shoelaces. > > But, a propos, is there an R entity called a "library" > (other than the command) as distinct from a "package"?
A *library* is a directory in which you can find R *packages* (just as in real life you can find books in a library) and with library("foo", lib.loc = "/path/to/bar") you want to get the package (book) "foo" from the library "bar" located at "/path/to/bar". So the two are really distinct...in real life, you also wouldn't say that you have been in the book where they had a lot of libraries on the shelves, would you? ;-) But as Kurt explained: this distinction between "library" and "package" is specific to R and does not correspond to common practice for other software systems. Z > If so, then I can accept the necessity for disciplined > distinction between them, since calling one sort of thing > by the name of another sort of thing necessarily creates > confusion. But if not, then I'm inclined to feel that > a bit of loose talk is acceptable (since then a reference > to a "library" would be understood as a reference to a > "package", since what else would it be?) > > Just my thoughts ... > > Ted. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 > Date: 08-Feb-05 Time: 22:19:46 > ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > ______________________________________________ R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel