Why is purr::is_numeric() deprecated

sellisd · December 12, 2017, 2:11pm

In purrr version 0.2.4 I see that is_numeric() is deprecated:

is_numeric
function (x) 
{
    warning("Deprecated", call. = FALSE)
    is_integer(x) || is_double(x)
}
<environment: namespace:purrr>

the reason is not clear to me and I was wondering what is the alternative suggested

mara · December 12, 2017, 2:23pm

Not sure if you're looking at the source code on your computer, or GitHub, but the explanation and its source should be the same either way (see the comments above the function)

github.com

tidyverse/purrr/blob/0c16ccde25ff2ab235b42e883d28f63c6c2956dc/R/predicates.R#L12


#'
#' Numeric is used in three different ways in base R:
#' * as an alias for double (as in [as.numeric()])
#' * to mean either integer or double (as in [mode()])
#' * for something representable as numeric (as in [as.numeric()])
#' This function tests for the second, which is often not what you want
#' so these functions are deprecated.
#'
#' @export
#' @keywords internal
is_numeric <- function(x) {
warning("Deprecated", call. = FALSE)
is_integer(x) || is_double(x)
}


#' @export
#' @rdname is_numeric
is_scalar_numeric <- function(x) {
warning("Deprecated", call. = FALSE)
is_scalar_integer(x) || is_scalar_double(x)
}

Diego-mx · March 1, 2018, 10:57pm

Thanks for such great tools.
I don't fully understand why people use is_numeric and not mean integer or double as in the explanation.
However I do feel a loss (small but still) in changing how to use it, as it does make the code readable and concise.
My two cents.