$<-
operator. This method is never called explicitly, but through an indirect
usage of the $<-
operator, e.g. obj$name <- "foo"
. 1) This method will first search for a set
method, e.g. if
name has the value "age"
, a setAge()
will be looked for.
If such a method exists it will be called with the Object as the first
argument and value
as the second, e.g. setAge(this, value)
.
A set
is only looked for if
is a non-private
field. A private field is a name beginning with a .
(period).
The rational for this naming convention is to be consistent
with how ls
() works, which will not list such members
by default.
Moreover, excluding private fields for the search of a set
will decrease the overhead for such field.
2) If no such method exists the value
will be assigned to an
existing field named name
, if such exists.
3) Otherwise, the value will be assigned to a static field, if such exists.
4) In all other case, the value is assigned to a new field.
Because any set
is called first, it is possible to
encapsulate (hide away) fields with certain names or to put
restrictions to what values can be assigned to them.
"$"(this, name) <- value "[["(this, name) <- value
set()
method or the name of
the field to be assigned the new value.this
, as all $<-
methods must do.
Object
.