--- En date de : Dim 11.7.10, Scotti Roberto <[email protected]> a écrit :
> De: Scotti Roberto <[email protected]> > Objet: Re: [R-sig-Debian] "Graphics history" in UNIX --> "R" in Ubuntu for > students in applied sciences > À: "Dirk Eddelbuettel" <[email protected]> > Cc: "R-SIG-DEBIAN" <[email protected]>, "Iacopo Bernetti" > <[email protected]> > Date: Dimanche 11 juillet 2010, 12h44 > Many thank to everyone. > I really appreciate your kindness in making the point (or > your point) on the topics that come up. > I am afraid that we completely abandoned the topic in the > original subject line and shifted to a topic that is of > great importance for me: <"R" in Ubuntu for students in > applied sciences>. > > For me the root question is related to Paul Johnson > opinion. > > 09/07/2010 00:36, Paul Johnson: > > > "Personally, my opinion is if you want somebody > else to do your work for you, you should have stayed with > Windows." << > To some extent it is necessarily true: choosing OpenSource > software you take up the burden of taking care for yourself, > if you prefer hanging over that burden to somebody else, > you'd better pay him for the service! > On the other hand, I suppose we can agree that a tool for > applied statistics as "R", is really useful if a > non-statics-expert like a forestry student can use it having > only basic knowledge of computers and informatics (and, > obviously, something more than just basics in statistics). > > What is the ideal compromise between these bounds? > > A - On 10 July 2010 at 11:54, > Ross Boylan: > "The point of most distributions is to provide pre-compiled > binary packages; particularly on Debian these are very good > about indicating what other packages they require. If > you use a tool like aptitude and tell it you want package X, > it will automatically pull in all other required > packages. Ubuntu is a Debian derivative." > > B - Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2010 > 18:37:38 +0100, Michael Dewey: > "My experience as a very naive Linux user with mostly > Windows experience is that once you have the initial setup > right subsequent installation of packages from source works > very smoothly. I was quite nervous about the initial setup > but the instructions on the welcome pages on CRAN were very > helpful. I think when you look back in a few months time you > will, like me, wonder why you were concerned in the first > place." > > I am very tempted to vote (B) but I am aware of my personal > bias in favor of very general (though risky!) solutions. > I imagine that a common understanding on this point can > help focus R-for-debian development. > Sincerely, Roberto. > I do not think the solution B is very risky because : * R's package building is one of the easiest in the GNU(linux : works under BSD and sometimes AIX, too) world. When I try a new distribution, the first thing I try is to build R from sources; if something is misssing, I try to build it, too ; after it, more complicated softwares can be tried (octave, scilab). * If it is intended for students, may be they will be happy to know how to install from sources (having a Debian on their linux (if any) computers is not compulsory, is not it? ) * knowing how to make a package and how to document it may be interesting (I wrote professional packages for R{my boss wont GPL them!} , and writing documentation is very easy). * There are about 1500 functions in R (without libraries); knowing 2 more functions | bash lines is not that tremendous; getting an idea of dependencies and how they are managed is useful if one wants to install/use any GNU (and even Windows...) software . * Most linux distribution (not weighted by audience, I agree) do not have R supplied, nor its dependencies.... Others (I think of Centos and Mandriva) might have late versions of R, and one depends on the distribution's skills and avalaible time... instead of writing 2 bash lines/calling one R function!!! _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Debian mailing list [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-debian
