Motivation
Transparency is one of the underpinning principles of ethical modelling practice. One way to improve the transparency of computational health economic models is to ensure that the programs implementing model analyses can be meaningfully inspected by readers with different levels of technical expertise. Even non-technical readers should be able to follow the high-level logic implemented by model algorithms. If multiple analysis programs are written using a common simplified syntax then reviewers of those programs need to contend with relatively fewer new concepts.
Implementation
ready4 provides a simple syntax that can be consistently
applied to attach algorithms (methods) to model
modules. It does so by taking advantage of the abstraction
and polymorphism features of Object Oriented Programming and R’s use
of generic functions. Generic functions don’t implement algorithms
themselves - their most salient features are a name and a high level
description of the type of task that any method associated with that
generic should perform. Whenever a developer creates a method for
classes that use R’s S4 and S3 systems (the
types used for model modules and sub-modules), they can associate
that method with a generic that has a description that is a good match
for the algorithm being implemented.
Use
ready4 includes a number of core generic functions which
describe the main types of method to be implemented by model modules.
These generics correspond exactly to the “core”, “slot” and “extended”
commands described in another
article.
Notably, the ready4 package does not associate any core
or extended methods with the Ready4Module template
module. Instead, model developers need to decide which core and
extended generics they associate with the modules they derive from the
Ready4Module template. This decision is typically made when
authoring the methods associated with model modules.
Currently, the only methods defined for Ready4Module are
slot-methods.
By default, these slot methods are inherited by all modules derived from
the Ready4Module template. These methods can be itemised
using the get_methods function.
## [1] "authorSlot" "characterizeSlot" "depictSlot"
## [4] "enhanceSlot" "exhibitSlot" "ingestSlot"
## [7] "investigateSlot" "manufactureSlot" "metamorphoseSlot"
## [10] "procureSlot" "prognosticateSlot" "ratifySlot"
## [13] "reckonSlot" "renewSlot" "shareSlot"