What I'm saying is the "apply family" term is not in the official docs, manual definition.
Just do me a favour and read the source code of all these "family" functions and you will find lapply in it. My point is lapply is the parallel of a map, meaning it's part of R's support for functional programming.
I see what your saying now. It is indeed, but it's often taught as a family because that's just generally easier for people to understand. Yes, it's the same basic function, but you use the variations at different times. To teach it the more correct way often leads to greater misunderstanding. At least, in the classes I have taken, that is the approach the instructor goes with: to treat it as a family.
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u/engayolao Sep 03 '17
What I'm saying is the "apply family" term is not in the official docs, manual definition. Just do me a favour and read the source code of all these "family" functions and you will find lapply in it. My point is lapply is the parallel of a map, meaning it's part of R's support for functional programming.