[R] par(new=TRUE) vs par(new=FALSE)

[Dirk Enzmann]

Just out of curiosity (and I hope that my question does not confuse 
those who intuitively understood the par(new=TRUE) statement right in 
the beginning):

I would like to know whether beginners (learning R) had the same 
difficulty as I had: Intuitively I thought that par(new=TRUE) would draw 
a new plot (and not into an already existing plot) and that 
par(new=FALSE) would not draw a new plot but draw into an already 
existing plot - opposed to what the par(new=TRUE) statement actually 
does. (It would be interesting to receive an answer also from those who 
meanwhile reached an expert status  in working with the R syntax). 
Perhaps my confusion is due to the fact that I am a trained right-handed 
that really is a left-handed (those people tend to mistake contrasts).

If there are a lot of people having this difficulty, I would like to 
know why the decision was made to define the mode of action of the 
par(new=TRUE) statement as it is now. Perhaps that helps me to 
understand better the way programmers tend to think.

*************************************************
Dr. Dirk Enzmann
Institute of Criminal Sciences
Dept. of Criminology
Schlueterstr. 28
D-20146 Hamburg
Germany

phone: +49-040-42838.7498 (office)
        +49-040-42838.4591 (Billon)
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email: dirk.enzmann at jura.uni-hamburg.de
www: 
http://www2.jura.uni-hamburg.de/instkrim/kriminologie/Mitarbeiter/Enzmann/Enzmann.html