Hello
Apologies for cross-posting, the discussion should (if) go to R-devel, but I
also want to reach the rcpp-devel people.
My C++ class FOO is a module available through Rcpp, and it works fine and is
-- so far -- bug free. With trying to further develop my R package, I thought
it was a good idea to interface my C++ workhorse FOO with an S4 class Foo.
After some long and not always insightful trip through S4 classes and methods,
I am not sure if I am on the right way of thinking and designing. Since there
is no local assistance available, could you help to make things clearer?
Just a brief outline:
FOO is the C++ object, and Foo should be the S4 class. If the user creates an
object, say bar, from class Foo, the creation process automatically makes a new
FOO object relating to bar in that a unique name of the FOO instance is stored
in a slot of bar. All the user then has to do is modify bar by simple
assignments. The getters and setters ("$", "[") are set up and work. Each
modification goes in hand with assigning new values to bar as well as updating
the FOO object through available setters from FOO.
So far, this way has brought me to about 100 lines, but now I read about
ReferenceClasses and was wondering, if there is a much easier way of achieving
my goals. Moreover, I was not sure any longer if my goals make sense or if a
more advanced programmer would do it totally different (and could share some
structural thinking on their approach).
The idea behind my way of doing was based upon several considerations. First, a
"classical" R object would not confuse users, as I assume users of my package
to be rather non-skilled (and not willing to change that). Second, I want to
create a properly programmed package for distribution on CRAN and publication,
eventually. Third, I want to save objects across sessions. So if a user
restores a session, a simple command, say, restore(), would do the trick to
build all the related C++ objects again. However, I admit that I still have not
figured out how to automatically clean up the workspace correctly before
leaving a session, wanted or unwanted, that is, clean up memory before leaving
home. Fourth, pure arithmetic check is done in C++, however, semantic check
*should* be left to R, and the validity and class routines seem to be perfect
for this. Fifth, some work should be done in R, such as the passing of data
frames or samples from distributions.
I hope to get some structured ideas and hints how to start and/or proceed.
Thank you in advance,
Sören
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