Alternative syntax? about zeallot HOT 10 CLOSED

The original zeallot, named allotalot at the time, syntax used a .() helper function to construct the LHS of an assignment expression.

.(a, b, c) %<-% f()

With that syntax the %<-% could be dropped and similar to vadr's bind functionality <- could be used instead.

I am wary of overwriting <- or c(). However, I do agree a simpler syntax would be nice.

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Oops, I meant c(a, b, c) %<-% f()

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Yes, I don't see why that wouldn't be possible.

Would the nested syntax look as follows,
c(a, c(b, d), e) %<-% f()

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FWIW I don't think need to overwrite c() since you never actually evaluate the lhs.

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Yep, I agree. The overwriting was brought up, but is no longer relevant because of @hadley 's correction to the proposed alternative syntax.

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@jimhester, you have me thinking though, is there a reason why a `c<-`() function couldn't be implemented? Upon first consideration this seems like a way around overwriting <- and defining the custom %<-%.

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With some further fiddling I see there are plenty of hurdles along the `c<-`() route, if it's possible at all. Proceeding with %<-%.

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I similar idea is https://github.com/crowding/vadr/blob/master/R/bind.R#L65. Which has the advantage of not requiring an redefinition of <-, but the drawback of requiring an object to dispatch on. Using that approach you could have syntax like

.[x, y] <- c(1, 2)

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I became aware of vadr this morning when hadley brought it to my attention. I see now in the comments of bind.R, crowding was talking about how `bind<-` would mangel the call, so he settled for [<-.bind.

I like avoiding a different assignment operator. Unfortunately, nesting variables with .[ feels a little nutty. I would imagine it looks something like this.

.[w, .[x, y], z] <- list(1, list(2, 3), 4)

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New syntax is ready for submission to CRAN, any further suggestions? I feel good about the new, lighter syntax.

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