Naming of update()

[markfairbanks]

I noticed that to create new columns the function update() is used. This is called differently than data.table's ':='() when trying to add multiple columns, which is probably due to constraints on function names in python. However I ran across this issue which talks about creating an alias for ':='() (such as let() or setcol()).

Are there plans for the python version and the R version of this function to have the same name in the future?

[st-pasha]

Although it is technically possible to create a variable with any name in Python, including :=, there is no normal way to refer to these variables, so it just wouldn't be very practical. Which is why we gave it a traditional name instead - update(), coming from SQL UPDATE operator. We might also add at some point select() function which would work in the same way as a "bare" j expression.

The issue that you linked suggests function name set(), however, that wouldn't work for Python where set() is a builtin that creates a set object.

This leaves the possibility that R's function can be called update(), but I don't know whether this name would make sense for R users.