typeInfo <- function(x) {
  print(x, digits=22)  
  cat("str:    ")                
  str(x)  
  cat("mode:   ", mode(x), "\n")
  cat("typeof: ", typeof(x), "\n")
  cat("class:  ", class(x), "\n")
  # if there are attributes, print them too
  if (! is.null(attributes(x))) {
    cat("attributes:\n")
    print(attributes(x))
  }
}