[cwyers]

Using classes at all is unnecessary for most R users. R is really, to the extent that paradigms matter to the average R user at all (which is: not much) a functional-first language. The idiomatic way to deal with the things you would use classes for is to use functions and closures. There are people who need objects in R, which is why R has object systems available, but it is of no help to a beginner to know them -- it doesn't help them to interact with the code they are going to see, and they don't have the background to understand why you would use classes instead of functions.