R,
we represent dissimilarities as the S3 class dist.
For cross-dissimilarities and similarities, we provide
the S4 classes
ar_cross_dissimilarities and
ar_similarities.dist objects are the result of calling the method
dissimilarity with one argument
or any R function returning a
S3 dist object.
ar_cross_dissimilarity objects are the result of calling the method
dissimilarity with two arguments,
by calls of the form new("similarity", ...),
or by coercion from matrix. ar_similarity objects are the result of calling the method
affinity, by calls of the form new("similarity", ...),
or by coercion from matrix.
S4 classes have a method slot which contains the
type of measure used for calculation.dist (in package stats),
dissimilarity,
affinity.