[R] R programming style

[Roland Rau]

Hi,

I think using Emacs+ESS [1,2] is always a good starting point for a 
clear layout with consistent and meaningful indentation.

I don't know how other people think about it, but in my opinion, 
"Elements of Programming Style" by Kernighan and Plauger is still an 
interesting read -- although their programs are either Fortran or PL/1 
and the book itself is 30 years or old. Of course, I am not always 
successful but at least I try to incorporate their 'mantras':
- write clearly, don't be too clever [3]
- say what you mean, simply and directly
- use library functions
- write clearly -- don't sacrifice clarity for "efficiency"
- let the machine do the dirty work
- parenthesize to avoid ambiguity
- 10.0 times 0.1 is hardly ever 1.0
- ...

I hope this helps?

Best,
Roland


[1] http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
[2] http://ess.r-project.org/
[3] I guess this is what Kernighan meant in his famous(?) quote: 
"Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in 
the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, 
how will you ever debug it?" 
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_W._Kernighan )






David Scott wrote:
> I am aware of one (unofficial) guide to style for R programming:
> http://www1.maths.lth.se/help/R/RCC/
> from Henrik Bengtsson.
> 
> Can anyone provide further pointers to good style?
> 
> Views on Bengtsson's ideas would interest me as well.
> 
> David Scott
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
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