c() versus list()

A common mistake in programming is to use c() instead of list() to create a list.

What's the difference between c() and list() i.e. c(x, y, z) and list(x, y, z)?

Consider the following:

x = 1:10
y = TRUE
z = seq(1.5, length = 20, by = 2)

a = list(x, y, z)
b = c(x, y, z)

What's the class of a? and b? What is the length of each?

class(a)
class(b)
length(b)

Care with the c() Function

We can create vectors and lists using c() - the concatenation function. We can also create lists with c() or list(). Be careful when using c().

c(1, c(2, 3, 4), 10:15)

What about

list(1, c(2, 3, 4))