Description
Formally defined methods and classes for R objects, plus
other programming tools, as described in the references.Details
This package provides the “S4” or “S version 4”
approach to methods and classes in a functional language. For basic use of the techniques, start with Introduction and
follow the links there to the key functions for programming, notably
setClass
and setMethod
. Some specific topics:
- Classes:
- Creating one, see
setClass
;
examining definitions, see getClassDef
and
; inheritance and coercing,
see is
and as
- Generic functions:
- Basic programming, see
setGeneric
; the class of objects, see
; other functions to examine or
manipulate them, see GenericFunctions.
- S3:
- Using classes, see
setOldClass
; methods,
see Methods_for_S3.
- Reference classes:
- See ReferenceClasses.
- Class unions; virtual classes
- See
setClassUnion
.
These pages will have additional links to related topics. For a complete
list of functions and classes, use library(help="methods")
.References
Chambers, John M. (2016)
Extending R,
Chapman & Hall.
(Chapters 9 and 10.) Chambers, John M. (2008)
Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R
Springer. (Chapter 10 has some additional details.)