[R] A slight trap in read.table/read.csv.

[Jim Lemon]

On 03/01/2010 08:55 AM, Rolf Turner wrote:
>...
> Furthermore using F's and T's to represent TRUE's and FALSE's is
> bad practice anyway.  Since FALSE and TRUE are reserved words it
> would make sense for the read function to assume that a field is
> logical if it consists entirely of these words.  But T's and F's
> .... I don't think so.
>
> I would argue that this behaviour should be changed.  I can see no
> downside to such a change.
>
Hi Rolf,
I think that the answer is buried in the history of Truth and Falsity, 
in that T and F once were valid ways to abbreviate these fundamental but 
widely disputed concepts. The number of messages on the help list that 
contain this usage indicates that an awful lot of people would be 
chucking a tanty if automatic conversion were dropped.

Jim