"Zexu Ding" [email protected] wrote:

Hello,

How am I supposed to treat new identifiers? As mentioned, a new identifier doesn't need to be initialised explicitly, however, at the same time, the variable will be invisible out of the function area. So should I treat a as a new variable with a default value of 0 or report an error

function test
    a <- 1
# 
print a

Thx!

Hi Zexu,

"7.variables do not need to be defined before being used in an expression, and are automatically initialised to the (real) value 0.0"

"12. a function's parameters and any other identifiers used in a function body are local to that function, and become unavailable when the function's execution completes"

My interpretation of rules 7 and 12 is since a was defined in the local function, a is no longer available when the function ends, so when a is used outside the function it is treated as a new parameter so it will be 0.0.

In other words, a it would be 0.