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Types in R and TypeScript

type_objects.Rd

This document provides an overview of the main types available to app developers, which includes the main types in R and their TypeScript counterparts.

TS objects

The basic object in ts is a ts_object class. This is represented by input and return types, an optional default value, and a checking function.

Input types describe the zod schema of objects that TypeScript can pass to Rserve functions.

Return types describe the zod schema of objects that Rserve functions, and most of these utilise the Robj utility types in the rserve-ts library. The return types have additional properties added, namedly r_type and r_attributes, handled by the Robj utility types.

Scalar versus array ("vector") types: In R, almost all types are vectors. In the 'rserve-js' library, primitive arrays of length one are converted into scalars, which leads to some issues with type checking when, for example, a return value has unknown length. which(x > 5) is one such example.

To solve this, we add an n argument to the ts_* functions. When n = 1, the type takes the scalar form of the alue. When n != 1, the type takes the array form of the value (this includes 0). Otherwise, the type is the union of the scalar and array forms.

This is the case for numbers, strings, and booleans.

Available types

  • ts_boolean: A boolean value. The array type is Int8Array.

  • ts_integer: An integer value. The array type is Int32Array. Javascript does not have a native integer type, so scalars are represented as a number (the same as ts_numeric).

  • ts_numeric: A numeric value. The array type is Float64Array.*

  • ts_string: A string value. The array type is string[].

  • ts_factor: A factor value. The array type is (level1 | level2 | ... | levelN)[], and this type does not have a scalar form.

  • ts_list: A list value, represented by a named object or an array.

  • ts_dataframe: A data frame value, represented by a named object.

  • ts_null: A null value.

  • ts_void: A void value, used for specifying return types of functions that do not return a value.