If we’re being mathematically pedantic, the “pipe” operator is actually function composition.
That being said, pipes are a simple and well-known idiom. While being less than mathematically exact, it seems a reasonable label for the (very useful) behavior. On Sat, Dec 5, 2020 at 9:43 PM Abby Spurdle <spurdl...@gmail.com> wrote: > > This is a good addition > > I can't understand why so many people are calling this a "pipe". > Pipes connect processes, via their I/O streams. > Arguably, a more general interpretation would include sockets and files. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix) > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Named_pipe > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_pipe > > As far as I can tell, the magrittr-like operators are functions (not > pipes), with nonstandard syntax. > This is not consistent with R's original design philosophy, building > on C, Lisp and S, along with lots of *important* math and stats. > > It's possible that some parties are interested in creating a kind of > "data pipeline". > I'm interested in this myself, and I think we could discuss this more. > But I'm not convinced the magrittr-like operators help to achieve this > goal. > Which, in my opinion, would require one to model programs as directed > graphs, along with some degree of asynchronous input. > > Presumably, these operators will be added to R anyway, and (almost) no > one will listen to me. > > So, I would like to make one suggestion: > Is it possible for these operators to *not* be named: > The R Pipe > The S Pipe > Or anything with a similar meaning. > > Maybe tidy pipe, or something else that links it to its proponents? > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > -- "Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." Continental Congress, 1778 [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel