Introducing the vfunc R package
This solves a specific usability issue for R programmers by enabling natural arithmetic operations on functions, though it is incremental as it builds on existing R infrastructure.
The paper tackles the problem that base R functions lack arithmetic methods, causing errors when users attempt operations like 'f + g', and introduces the vfunc package to provide this functionality, resulting in more compact and readable code and eliminating a class of coding bugs.
$f,g\colon\mathbb{R}\longrightarrow\mathbb{R}$, it is natural to define $f+g$ as the function that maps $x\in\mathbb{R}$ to $f(x) + g(x)$. However, in base R, objects of class function do not have arithmetic methods defined, so idiom such as "f + g" returns an error, even though it has a perfectly reasonable expectation. The vfunc package offers this functionality. Other similar features are provided, which lead to compact and readable idiom. A wide class of coding bugs is eliminated.