Simon Urbanek wrote:
> If you want an app, just open the Automator, pick Application type, select 
> "Run Shell Script" with single line
> open -a Terminal /usr/bin/R

Dave Deriso wrote:
> you could check out Platypus to wrap your command into an app. Basically 
> write a simple bash script to call
> R with the desired parameters, and Platypus will turn that into an app that 
> you can put on your launch bar. 

 
Thanks for the replies.

Platypus seems to be interesting, but with quick testing the resulted app was 
not interactive and not usable as such.

Automator approach works quite nicely, but after exiting the terminal window 
stays open (stating Process completed) and with the default settings in 
terminal it must be closed manually. I cannot killable terminal app to 
accomplish closing, because there may be other terminal windows open. It is of 
course possible to _manually_ change the terminal preferences so that the 
window closes at exit, but what if I want such behavior only for the terminal 
window running R?

And actually I was not asking how to accomplish such task but would it be 
possible to have such an app distributed with R.

The motivation is simple:
There exists several R packages that utilize Tcl/Tk to create alternative user 
interfaces. For some courses, hundreds of students (some of them never seen R 
before) may be installing R and the interface packages also to their own 
laptops. Nowadays more and more people are using Macs, and the problems with 
R.app GUI and Tcl/Tk may give them a wrong impression of the performance of R 
and the interfaces. It is already challenging enough for the students to 
install R and XQuartz (fortunately since R 3.0.0 no more need to install tcltk 
separately) on Mac, so giving a long list of point-by-point instructions to 
tune things up give a geeky feeling. And a need for manually open and close 
Terminal window gives easily a mixed impression for a first timer: Why I cannot 
use the main entrance to R, but need to travel all the way to the back door?

In that sense it would be very nice if a simple R terminal icon would appear in 
addition to R.app GUI icon after installing R on Mac.

Best wishes,
Reijo Sund

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