Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Vyacheslav Karamov

Dirk Eddelbuettel пишет:

No, what you describe in the next few hundred lines would _build the examples
if the package is already installed_ 


Also, building these examples (once you have the package is installed) does
Work For Me (TM) in the sense that the compiles and linking steps succeed
(WinXP, Rtools with gcc/g++ 4.2.x, R 2.11.0) yet it, as noted above, leads to
a seg.fault which Romain and I have found neither time nor motivation to fix.

You would be very welcome to help out -- our discussions around Rcpp and
RInside take place on the rcpp-devel list off R-Forge.


| 1) First I added R_HOME environment variable.
| 2) Then modified c:\Program 
| Files\R\R-2.11.1\library\RInside\examples\standard\Makefile.win by 
| surrounding $(R_HOME)/bin/R with the quotation marks.

| 3) And finally
| C:\Program Files\R\R-2.11.1\library\RInside\examples\standardmake -f 
| Makefile.win
| g++ -Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/include 
| -Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/Rcpp/include 
| -Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/include -O2 -Wall -Wall  -s  
| rinside_callbacks0.cpp  -Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin -lR 
| -Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin -lRblas -Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin 
| -lRlapack c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/lib/libRInside.a 
| c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/Rcpp/lib/libRcpp.a  -o rinside_callbacks0
| c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/lib/libRInside.a(RInside.o):RInside.cpp:(.text+0x10b): 
| undefined reference to `__gxx_personality_sj0'


[ Hundreds of similar lines removed. ]


Thanks, Dirk

  

Hi all!

Could you help me to install Rinside in Ubuntu Jaunty?
I've installed R and Rcpp but I have no idea how to deal with Rinside.
I couldn't find any makefile.

WBR,
Vyacheslav.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Romain Francois


Le 20/08/10 10:32, Vyacheslav Karamov a écrit :

Dirk Eddelbuettel пишет:

No, what you describe in the next few hundred lines would _build the
examples
if the package is already installed_
Also, building these examples (once you have the package is installed)
does
Work For Me (TM) in the sense that the compiles and linking steps
succeed
(WinXP, Rtools with gcc/g++ 4.2.x, R 2.11.0) yet it, as noted above,
leads to
a seg.fault which Romain and I have found neither time nor motivation
to fix.

You would be very welcome to help out -- our discussions around Rcpp and
RInside take place on the rcpp-devel list off R-Forge.


| 1) First I added R_HOME environment variable.
| 2) Then modified c:\Program |
Files\R\R-2.11.1\library\RInside\examples\standard\Makefile.win by |
surrounding $(R_HOME)/bin/R with the quotation marks.
| 3) And finally
| C:\Program Files\R\R-2.11.1\library\RInside\examples\standardmake
-f | Makefile.win
| g++ -Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/include |
-Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/Rcpp/include |
-Ic:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/include -O2 -Wall -Wall -s
| rinside_callbacks0.cpp -Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin -lR |
-Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin -lRblas -Lc:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/bin |
-lRlapack c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/lib/libRInside.a |
c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/Rcpp/lib/libRcpp.a -o rinside_callbacks0
|
c:/PROGRA~1/R/R-211~1.1/library/RInside/lib/libRInside.a(RInside.o):RInside.cpp:(.text+0x10b):
| undefined reference to `__gxx_personality_sj0'

[ Hundreds of similar lines removed. ]


Thanks, Dirk


Hi all!

Could you help me to install Rinside in Ubuntu Jaunty?
I've installed R and Rcpp but I have no idea how to deal with Rinside.
I couldn't find any makefile.

WBR,
Vyacheslav.


Hi,

It installs just like any other R package, there is no need for a Makefile.

$ R CMD RInside_0.2.3.tar.gz

or from R:

 install.packages( RInside )

We usually encourage people to use the Rcpp-devel mailing list for 
questions about RInside :

http://lists.r-forge.r-project.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/rcpp-devel

Romain

--
Romain Francois
Professional R Enthusiast
+33(0) 6 28 91 30 30
http://romainfrancois.blog.free.fr
|- http://bit.ly/bzoWrs : Rcpp svn revision 2000
|- http://bit.ly/b8VNE2 : Rcpp at LondonR, oct 5th
`- http://bit.ly/aAyra4 : highlight 0.2-2

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Sweave *, showWarnings=TRUE ?

2010-08-20 Thread Duncan Murdoch

Martin Maechler wrote:

Thank you Duncan, for expanding Sweave functionality,
notably considering error handling.

Related to that is the topic of handling warning messages.
  


I thought someone (Fritz?  One of the Sweave support package writers?) 
was working on the issue of including error and warning messages in 
Sweave output.  My changes don't address that problem.


The changes I'm going to make will only be visible in syntax errors.  R 
currently has the underlying support to allow it to report source file 
line numbers in execution time error messages, but it isn't taken 
advantage of in many places.  If that is expanded, my Sweave changes 
should take advantage of it automatically.


Duncan Murdoch

In a course on using R (for beginners),
I would really like to show warnings that code chunks produce.
Currently, the warnings are printed to the console when I run
 'R CMD Sweave ..' and do not appear in the resulting *.tex file.

Of course   ---   fortune(Yoda)   ---
I can always fudge what I want,
but it would be quite desirable to have simple Sweave option
which would deal with warnings()  
{ and maybe message(), stop(), and general exception handling; 
  but for all practical purposes, it's the warnings that I'd

  like to be handled automatically.}

Martin Maechler, ETH Zurich



__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Sharpie


Romain Francois wrote:
 
 Hi,
 
 It installs just like any other R package, there is no need for a
 Makefile.
 
 $ R CMD RInside_0.2.3.tar.gz
 

Should probably be:

  R CMD INSTALL RInside_0.2.3.tar.gz


But are we misleading the OP a little bit about what RInside can help him
do?  His original question was:


Vyacheslav Karamov wrote:
 
 Hi All!
 
 I'm new to R and I need to know is it possible for R to generate C/C++ 
 source code, Java byte code or native Win32 DLL like MatLab?
 

He stated that he was looking for this because:


Vyacheslav Karamov wrote:
 
 Is there any posibility to use R without installing?
 I mean that I have my own application written in MS Visual C++ and I 
 need to use R script in this app. I can install R and use it via DCOM, 
 but it's not convenient for  the end users of my  program.
 


I think the proper answer to this question is: R is an interpreted language. 
There is not any developed way to compile R code to machine code, an
executable or a library that can be distributed to a computer that does not
have a copy of R installed.


R does include a library with various names such as R.a, libR.so and R.dll
that contains the R interpreter and support functions which could be used to
distribute a stand alone executable that can run R code without the R
distribution being installed.

However the sticking point is packages; the OP is likely trying to embed R
in order to gain access to one, or several, R packages.  As far as I know,
there is no developed way to compile an R package down such that it could be
distributed, perhaps along with R.dll, and stand by its self.

It is theoretically possible, but there is no turnkey solution.


So, unless I am gravely mistaken, RInside is just a nice cross-platform
replacement for the RDCOM interface.  It won't solve the problem of needing
R installed on the client's computer in order to fully use the R environment
which is dependent on packages.

-Charlie

-
Charlie Sharpsteen
Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
Humboldt State University
-- 
View this message in context: 
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/C-or-Java-code-generation-tp2330875p2332606.html
Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Dirk Eddelbuettel

On 20 August 2010 at 08:02, Sharpie wrote:
| So, unless I am gravely mistaken, RInside is just a nice cross-platform
| replacement for the RDCOM interface.  It won't solve the problem of needing

I wrote RInside, and I am unaware of any attempts of mine to either copy,
clone or otherwise imitate any of the non-portable technologies from the
Pacific Northwest I happen to be rather unfamiliar with to boot.  So I fear
that were indeed gravely mistaken. Thanks for trying though.

RInside delivers what it promises: an embedded R instance for your C++
program.  And thanks to the magic that is Rcpp and all of the work Romain and
I put into it, you get a rather rich interface between R and C++ that has no
parallel I know of.

| R installed on the client's computer in order to fully use the R environment
| which is dependent on packages.

That on the other hand is a true statement and as far as I am concerned a
good thing as well.  

Dirk

-- 
Dirk Eddelbuettel | e...@debian.org | http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Sharpie


Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
 
 
 On 20 August 2010 at 08:02, Sharpie wrote:
 | So, unless I am gravely mistaken, RInside is just a nice cross-platform
 | replacement for the RDCOM interface.  It won't solve the problem of
 needing
 
 I wrote RInside, and I am unaware of any attempts of mine to either copy,
 clone or otherwise imitate any of the non-portable technologies from the
 Pacific Northwest I happen to be rather unfamiliar with to boot.  So I
 fear
 that were indeed gravely mistaken. Thanks for trying though.
 
 RInside delivers what it promises: an embedded R instance for your C++
 program.  And thanks to the magic that is Rcpp and all of the work Romain
 and
 I put into it, you get a rather rich interface between R and C++ that has
 no
 parallel I know of.
 
 | R installed on the client's computer in order to fully use the R
 environment
 | which is dependent on packages.
 
 That on the other hand is a true statement and as far as I am concerned a
 good thing as well.  
 
 Dirk
 

My apologies Dirk, I phrased that badly.  

What I ment is that RInside provides an interface by which the C++ program
can interact with R.  Essentially, what the OP would gain from RInside is
that he would not have to use DCOM.

-Charlie

-
Charlie Sharpsteen
Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
Humboldt State University
-- 
View this message in context: 
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/C-or-Java-code-generation-tp2330875p2332632.html
Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Simon Urbanek

On Aug 20, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:

 
 On 20 August 2010 at 08:02, Sharpie wrote:
 | So, unless I am gravely mistaken, RInside is just a nice cross-platform
 | replacement for the RDCOM interface.  It won't solve the problem of needing
 
 I wrote RInside, and I am unaware of any attempts of mine to either copy,
 clone or otherwise imitate any of the non-portable technologies from the
 Pacific Northwest I happen to be rather unfamiliar with to boot.  So I fear
 that were indeed gravely mistaken. 
 

I fear not: RInside, Rserve, R[D]COM, JRI, ... all embed R which was that his 
point, rightly so. 

There is no way I know of to turn R code into something that can run on its own 
without R present (save for a tiny subset of Rmath).

Cheers,
Simon



 RInside delivers what it promises: an embedded R instance for your C++
 program.  And thanks to the magic that is Rcpp and all of the work Romain and
 I put into it, you get a rather rich interface between R and C++ that has no
 parallel I know of.
 
 | R installed on the client's computer in order to fully use the R environment
 | which is dependent on packages.
 
 That on the other hand is a true statement and as far as I am concerned a
 good thing as well.  
 
 Dirk
 
 -- 
 Dirk Eddelbuettel | e...@debian.org | http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com
 
 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
 
 

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Dirk Eddelbuettel

On 20 August 2010 at 08:25, Sharpie wrote:
| My apologies Dirk, I phrased that badly.  

No worries.
 
| What I ment is that RInside provides an interface by which the C++ program
| can interact with R.  Essentially, what the OP would gain from RInside is
| that he would not have to use DCOM.

Apart from the fact (that I alluded to earlier) that 
  a) RInside does not build with the windoze toolchain but 
  b) requires Rtools by Duncan M, and 
  c) as of late builds but segfaults when running on Windoze.

So in short he is not helped at all unless he changes platforms. C'est la vie.


On 20 August 2010 at 11:39, Simon Urbanek wrote:
| I fear not: RInside, Rserve, R[D]COM, JRI, ... all embed R which was that his 
point, rightly so. 

I know next to nothing about JRI and RwhateverCOM so I will skip those. But I
have been in pushing for adoption of Rserve in different places and as early
as 2003/2004 as I am a big, big fan of Rserver (as well as Debian maintainer).  

However, RInside is much different in that it is a) in-process and b) endowed
with the richer Rcpp interface that Romain and I have been building.  So in
that sense this is not a comparison to me apart from the obvious fact that
both use R in an embedded fashion.
 
| There is no way I know of to turn R code into something that can run on its 
own without R present (save for a tiny subset of Rmath).

You seem to have missed that I made that same point, and stressed it as a
good one.  Not of the aforementioned technologies are meant to hide R or
permit deployment without it.

Dirk

-- 
Dirk Eddelbuettel | e...@debian.org | http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Does anyone use Sweave (RweaveLatex) option expand=FALSE?

2010-08-20 Thread Terry Therneau
Duncan,
  I use noweb for my R source code on the more complex projects (see the
coxme package).  I currently have my own noweb.R functions to do the
work, but the overlap is so great with Sweave that I have hopes that
they will one day merge.  

A note on abc recursion: for documentation this is very well
designed; it's better than a macro or a function would be.  And of
course, documentation of code is what the system was designed for.

And a general query: I currently have the .Rnw source files in the
inst/noweb directory.  Do people have a better suggestion?  Remember
these .Rnw files are the source of my .R files and of document
explaining the code, not the source of vignettes or manual pages.

Terry Therneau

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


[Rd] segfault in embedded r after call to repldlldo1

2010-08-20 Thread Carl Martin Grewe

Dear R developers,

i've got a question concerning an embedded R instance. I called the 
initialization routines as seen in the writing extensions guide 
(Rf_initialize, setup_Rmainloop and R_ReplDLLinit). I also changed the 
function callback pointer of readconsole and writeconsoleex to my local 
functions.


when i call mainloop there is no problem and the commands are evaluated 
as expected. because i don't want R to run in an own thread and my app 
should keep the control i want to use repldlldo1. within the readconsole 
as long as i copy commandlines containing valid R commands function to 
R's buffer all things are fine. but when i copy a non valid command, R 
singals segfault after passing the error message, that the given object 
is not valid. this happens in call to eval(R_CurrentExpr, rho) in 
repldlldo1. i tried to comapare both ways (mainloop vs. 
repldlldo+repldllinit) but actually cannot find a significant difference.


can anyone please help me with this problem, i'm stucked with this 
because i don't know the inside of R and the datastructures.



some additional information:
c++, runtime loaded libR, 64-bit linux, 2.11.1 release (but also happens 
with 2.10.1)


look farward to hearing from you.

thanks,
martin

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] segfault in embedded r after call to repldlldo1

2010-08-20 Thread Simon Urbanek

On Aug 20, 2010, at 12:14 PM, Carl Martin Grewe wrote:

 Dear R developers,
 
 i've got a question concerning an embedded R instance. I called the 
 initialization routines as seen in the writing extensions guide 
 (Rf_initialize, setup_Rmainloop and R_ReplDLLinit). I also changed the 
 function callback pointer of readconsole and writeconsoleex to my local 
 functions.
 
 when i call mainloop there is no problem and the commands are evaluated as 
 expected. because i don't want R to run in an own thread and my app should 
 keep the control i want to use repldlldo1. within the readconsole as long as 
 i copy commandlines containing valid R commands function to R's buffer all 
 things are fine. but when i copy a non valid command, R singals segfault 
 after passing the error message, that the given object is not valid. this 
 happens in call to eval(R_CurrentExpr, rho) in repldlldo1. i tried to 
 comapare both ways (mainloop vs. repldlldo+repldllinit) but actually cannot 
 find a significant difference.
 

I fear we can't help you without a reproducible example. One thing to keep in 
mind is that R_ReplDLLinit uses setjmp to setup the top-level context so you 
have to make sure you're not using any local variables that could be on the 
stack from R_ReplDLLdo1 as it will get lost (and function calls of course).

Cheers,
Simon


 can anyone please help me with this problem, i'm stucked with this because i 
 don't know the inside of R and the datastructures.
 
 
 some additional information:
 c++, runtime loaded libR, 64-bit linux, 2.11.1 release (but also happens with 
 2.10.1)
 
 look farward to hearing from you.
 
 thanks,
 martin
 
 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
 
 

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


[Rd] Rserve graphics output [was Re: C or Java code generation]

2010-08-20 Thread Sharpie


Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Aren't you the guy who created Rserve?
 
 I'd like to develop a web app so clients can perform exploratory data
 analysis with their browser with no installed software, not even java (I
 don't like applets). I thought R would be excellent for this but I need
 some issues cleared up before I invest a lot of time working with it. 
 

Well, Simon is the one who create Rserve.  However, if you have questions
about Rserve it may be best to start a new thread or at least change the
subject header of your message.  This discussion was about creating
stand-alone executables that use R code for deployment on a desktop.  


Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 It appears R insists on directing plot output to a file. Is their a
 graphics device that keeps the output in memory so it can be returned to
 my java app as a stream of bytes? If I have to wait for it to write to a
 unique file and then read it back again then I don't think that's going
 to work. My web app needs to support hundreds of concurrent clients. 
 

As far as I know all R graphics output that does not go to a screen device,
such as an X window, must be directed to some sort of file.  I am not aware
of a graphics device that provides output to something other than a screen
or a file, but there very well may be such a device in existence.

The functionality you could describe could be implemented by writing a R
graphics device that forwards the R plotting commands to... well anywhere
you want, really.  As the author of an R graphics device, I can say the
trickiest part of such an undertaking will be calculating font metrics so
that R can properly position text in the graphics.  Everything else is very
straight-forward.

I have plans to write a device that forwards the plotting commands to a
socket connection that allows another program to execute them.  In my case,
an Erlang backbone is used to route the results back to web clients using
websockets.  The idea is to have the plot rendered directly in the client's
browser using a JavaScript library like RaphealJS.  However, the school year
is upon me and the project will probably remain on the drawing board until
next summer.


Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Is REngine.jar and REngineRserve.jar  all I need in my web app?
 

I can't comment on REngine as I have not used it.


Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Also, how come their is no shutdown command from the command line for
 Rserve. I see one in the java client api. Do I have to write my own?
 

I find that on UNIX a SIGTERM, SIGSTOP or SIGKILL signal broadcast using a
command line utility such as kill does the job.

-Charlie

-
Charlie Sharpsteen
Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
Humboldt State University
-- 
View this message in context: 
http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/C-or-Java-code-generation-tp2330875p2332761.html
Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Paul Johnson
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 5:47 AM, Vyacheslav Karamov
ubuntul...@yandex.ru wrote:
x.ru


           Hi All!

           I'm new to R and I need to know is it possible for R to
        generate
           C/C++ source code, Java byte code or native Win32 DLL like
        MatLab?

 Is there any posibility to use R without installing?
 I mean that I have my own application written in MS Visual C++ and I need to
 use R script in this app. I can install R and use it via DCOM, but it's not
 convenient for  the end users of my  program.


Do your users have Web access? If so, you can set up an Rweb (or
similar) server that could run the jobs for those users. I have one
set up like that. Users transmit their code via http and can get
results back in web page.  I think you could probably program around
the output management question, but I did not try to do it. I mean,
something like wget could download the images directly, by-passing
the http server.

Rweb has been abandoned by its original author, but it can be made to
work, and there are other, newer http server programs to run R.  I
have not tried them yet, mainly because my customers needed to run
Rweb because their clients told them to use it.

-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Rserve graphics output [was Re: C or Java code generation]

2010-08-20 Thread Matt Shotwell
On Fri, 2010-08-20 at 12:58 -0400, Sharpie wrote:
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
  
  Aren't you the guy who created Rserve?
  
  I'd like to develop a web app so clients can perform exploratory data
  analysis with their browser with no installed software, not even java (I
  don't like applets). I thought R would be excellent for this but I need
  some issues cleared up before I invest a lot of time working with it. 
  
 
 Well, Simon is the one who create Rserve.  However, if you have questions
 about Rserve it may be best to start a new thread or at least change the
 subject header of your message.  This discussion was about creating
 stand-alone executables that use R code for deployment on a desktop.  
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
  
  It appears R insists on directing plot output to a file. Is their a
  graphics device that keeps the output in memory so it can be returned to
  my java app as a stream of bytes? If I have to wait for it to write to a
  unique file and then read it back again then I don't think that's going
  to work. My web app needs to support hundreds of concurrent clients. 
  
 
 As far as I know all R graphics output that does not go to a screen device,
 such as an X window, must be directed to some sort of file.  I am not aware
 of a graphics device that provides output to something other than a screen
 or a file, but there very well may be such a device in existence.

This was essentially the conclusion of Donald's earlier thread...

 The functionality you could describe could be implemented by writing a R
 graphics device that forwards the R plotting commands to... well anywhere
 you want, really.  As the author of an R graphics device, I can say the
 trickiest part of such an undertaking will be calculating font metrics so
 that R can properly position text in the graphics.  Everything else is very
 straight-forward.

I believe Donald wants the _rendered_ output. That is, a stream of bytes
that represent a png, jpeg, etc. Toward this end, we have already
discussed using an OS-level fifo to avoid disk I/O, and I think this is
the easiest route for Donald. 

Alternatively, Donald might look into the X11 graphics driver, where
Cairo is used to write pngs. In particular, the in_do_saveplot function
(src/main/modules/X11/devX11.c) calls cairo_surface_write_to_png, in
order to save a png to file. Cairo also provides the
cairo_surface_write_to_png_stream function, which might be used to send
png data to a memory buffer (i.e. a raw vector). I don't think it would
be too difficult to modify in_do_saveplot to accommodate this.

 I have plans to write a device that forwards the plotting commands to a
 socket connection that allows another program to execute them.  In my case,
 an Erlang backbone is used to route the results back to web clients using
 websockets.  The idea is to have the plot rendered directly in the client's
 browser using a JavaScript library like RaphealJS.  However, the school year
 is upon me and the project will probably remain on the drawing board until
 next summer.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
  
  Is REngine.jar and REngineRserve.jar  all I need in my web app?
  
 
 I can't comment on REngine as I have not used it.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
  
  Also, how come their is no shutdown command from the command line for
  Rserve. I see one in the java client api. Do I have to write my own?
  
 
 I find that on UNIX a SIGTERM, SIGSTOP or SIGKILL signal broadcast using a
 command line utility such as kill does the job.
 
 -Charlie
 
 -
 Charlie Sharpsteen
 Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
 Humboldt State University

-- 
Matthew S. Shotwell
Graduate Student 
Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Medical University of South Carolina

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Kevin Wright
Recently I was visiting with people about why commercial support is needed
for some people using R.  One person observed:

With commercial support, you have a person that you can call with questions
and yell at.
With R mailing lists, you can ask questions and have people yell at YOU.

The atmosphere of the R-help and R-devel mailing lists is infamous.  Is this
a good reputation to have?  I'm doubtful that it is.

So, I support Spencer's suggestion for more civility.

Kevin Wright


On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves 
spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com wrote:

  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
 Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:


 The Ubuntu Forums and LinuxQuestions.org, for instance, have instituted no
 RTFM policies to promote a welcoming atmosphere.[8][9].

 RTFM [and] Go look on google are two inappropriate responses to a
 question. If you don't know the answer or don't wish to help, please say
 nothing instead of brushing off someone's question. Politely showing someone
 how you searched or obtained the answer to a question is acceptable, even
 encouraged.
 ...

 If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when
 they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be very
 polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the
 user asking the question, i.e. STFU or RTFM are unacceptable and will
 not be tolerated. —Ubuntu Forums


 Gavin Simpson and I recently provided examples answering a question from
 r.ookie that had previously elicited responses, You want us to read the
 help page to you? and It yet again appears that you are asking us to read
 the help pages for you.


 I can appreciate the sentiment in fortunes('rtfm'). In this case, however,
 r.ookie had RTFM (and said so), but evidently the manual was not
 sufficiently clear.


 Best Wishes,
 Spencer Graves

 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel




-- 
Kevin Wright

[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Rserve graphics output [was Re: C or Java code generation]

2010-08-20 Thread Simon Urbanek
On Aug 20, 2010, at 12:58 PM, Sharpie wrote:

 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Aren't you the guy who created Rserve?
 
 I'd like to develop a web app so clients can perform exploratory data
 analysis with their browser with no installed software, not even java (I
 don't like applets). I thought R would be excellent for this but I need
 some issues cleared up before I invest a lot of time working with it. 
 
 
 Well, Simon is the one who create Rserve.  However, if you have questions
 about Rserve it may be best to start a new thread or at least change the
 subject header of your message.

There is now a thread on the stat-rosuda-devel mailing list about that.


  This discussion was about creating
 stand-alone executables that use R code for deployment on a desktop.  
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 It appears R insists on directing plot output to a file. Is their a
 graphics device that keeps the output in memory so it can be returned to
 my java app as a stream of bytes? If I have to wait for it to write to a
 unique file and then read it back again then I don't think that's going
 to work. My web app needs to support hundreds of concurrent clients. 
 
 
 As far as I know all R graphics output that does not go to a screen device,
 such as an X window, must be directed to some sort of file.  I am not aware
 of a graphics device that provides output to something other than a screen
 or a file, but there very well may be such a device in existence.
 
 The functionality you could describe could be implemented by writing a R
 graphics device that forwards the R plotting commands to... well anywhere
 you want, really.  As the author of an R graphics device, I can say the
 trickiest part of such an undertaking will be calculating font metrics so
 that R can properly position text in the graphics.  Everything else is very
 straight-forward.
 
 I have plans to write a device that forwards the plotting commands to a
 socket connection that allows another program to execute them.

You may have a look at  xGD[1] - it sends all GD commands to a TCP/IP socket 
(and there is a Java server as an example).

Cheers,
Simon

[1] http://rforge.net/xGD/

  In my case,
 an Erlang backbone is used to route the results back to web clients using
 websockets.  The idea is to have the plot rendered directly in the client's
 browser using a JavaScript library like RaphealJS.  However, the school year
 is upon me and the project will probably remain on the drawing board until
 next summer.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Is REngine.jar and REngineRserve.jar  all I need in my web app?
 
 
 I can't comment on REngine as I have not used it.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Also, how come their is no shutdown command from the command line for
 Rserve. I see one in the java client api. Do I have to write my own?
 
 
 I find that on UNIX a SIGTERM, SIGSTOP or SIGKILL signal broadcast using a
 command line utility such as kill does the job.
 
 -Charlie
 
 -
 Charlie Sharpsteen
 Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
 Humboldt State University
 -- 
 View this message in context: 
 http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/C-or-Java-code-generation-tp2330875p2332761.html
 Sent from the R devel mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
 
 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
 
 

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


[Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Paul Johnson
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves
spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com wrote:
  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
 Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:

I think this is a great suggestion.

I notice the R mailing list already has a gesture in this direction:
Rudeness and ad hominem comments are not acceptable. Brevity is OK.

But the people who behave badly don't care about policies like this
and they will keep doing what they do.

pj

--
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] C or Java code generation

2010-08-20 Thread Simon Urbanek

On Aug 20, 2010, at 1:15 PM, Paul Johnson wrote:

 On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 5:47 AM, Vyacheslav Karamov
 ubuntul...@yandex.ru wrote:
 x.ru
 
 
   Hi All!
 
   I'm new to R and I need to know is it possible for R to
generate
   C/C++ source code, Java byte code or native Win32 DLL like
MatLab?
 
 Is there any posibility to use R without installing?
 I mean that I have my own application written in MS Visual C++ and I need to
 use R script in this app. I can install R and use it via DCOM, but it's not
 convenient for  the end users of my  program.
 
 
 Do your users have Web access? If so, you can set up an Rweb (or
 similar) server that could run the jobs for those users. I have one
 set up like that. Users transmit their code via http and can get
 results back in web page.  I think you could probably program around
 the output management question, but I did not try to do it. I mean,
 something like wget could download the images directly, by-passing
 the http server.
 
 Rweb has been abandoned by its original author, but it can be made to
 work, and there are other, newer http server programs to run R.  I
 have not tried them yet, mainly because my customers needed to run
 Rweb because their clients told them to use it.
 

FWIW: FastRWeb uses Rserve as back-end and is in active development since we 
use it internally (it's wicked fast, scalable and supports data pre-loading and 
AJAX).

Cheers,
Simon

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Rserve graphics output [was Re: C or Java code generation]

2010-08-20 Thread Simon Urbanek

On Aug 20, 2010, at 1:59 PM, Matt Shotwell wrote:

 On Fri, 2010-08-20 at 12:58 -0400, Sharpie wrote:
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Aren't you the guy who created Rserve?
 
 I'd like to develop a web app so clients can perform exploratory data
 analysis with their browser with no installed software, not even java (I
 don't like applets). I thought R would be excellent for this but I need
 some issues cleared up before I invest a lot of time working with it. 
 
 
 Well, Simon is the one who create Rserve.  However, if you have questions
 about Rserve it may be best to start a new thread or at least change the
 subject header of your message.  This discussion was about creating
 stand-alone executables that use R code for deployment on a desktop.  
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 It appears R insists on directing plot output to a file. Is their a
 graphics device that keeps the output in memory so it can be returned to
 my java app as a stream of bytes? If I have to wait for it to write to a
 unique file and then read it back again then I don't think that's going
 to work. My web app needs to support hundreds of concurrent clients. 
 
 
 As far as I know all R graphics output that does not go to a screen device,
 such as an X window, must be directed to some sort of file.  I am not aware
 of a graphics device that provides output to something other than a screen
 or a file, but there very well may be such a device in existence.
 
 This was essentially the conclusion of Donald's earlier thread...
 
 The functionality you could describe could be implemented by writing a R
 graphics device that forwards the R plotting commands to... well anywhere
 you want, really.  As the author of an R graphics device, I can say the
 trickiest part of such an undertaking will be calculating font metrics so
 that R can properly position text in the graphics.  Everything else is very
 straight-forward.
 
 I believe Donald wants the _rendered_ output. That is, a stream of bytes
 that represent a png, jpeg, etc. Toward this end, we have already
 discussed using an OS-level fifo to avoid disk I/O, and I think this is
 the easiest route for Donald. 
 
 Alternatively, Donald might look into the X11 graphics driver, where
 Cairo is used to write pngs. In particular, the in_do_saveplot function
 (src/main/modules/X11/devX11.c) calls cairo_surface_write_to_png, in
 order to save a png to file. Cairo also provides the
 cairo_surface_write_to_png_stream function, which might be used to send
 png data to a memory buffer (i.e. a raw vector). I don't think it would
 be too difficult to modify in_do_saveplot to accommodate this.
 

That is all nice, it will require you to hack R (well, there is the Cairo 
device so you could make the change outside of R instead).

As always, the reason is buried deep inside -- the lack of connection API. If 
we had that, devices would take a connection instead of the file name and all 
would be well since you could use in-memory connections instead of files ... ;)

Cheers,
Simon



 I have plans to write a device that forwards the plotting commands to a
 socket connection that allows another program to execute them.  In my case,
 an Erlang backbone is used to route the results back to web clients using
 websockets.  The idea is to have the plot rendered directly in the client's
 browser using a JavaScript library like RaphealJS.  However, the school year
 is upon me and the project will probably remain on the drawing board until
 next summer.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Is REngine.jar and REngineRserve.jar  all I need in my web app?
 
 
 I can't comment on REngine as I have not used it.
 
 
 Donald Paul Winston wrote:
 
 Also, how come their is no shutdown command from the command line for
 Rserve. I see one in the java client api. Do I have to write my own?
 
 
 I find that on UNIX a SIGTERM, SIGSTOP or SIGKILL signal broadcast using a
 command line utility such as kill does the job.
 
 -Charlie
 
 -
 Charlie Sharpsteen
 Undergraduate-- Environmental Resources Engineering
 Humboldt State University
 
 -- 
 Matthew S. Shotwell
 Graduate Student 
 Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
 Medical University of South Carolina
 
 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
 
 

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Gabor Grothendieck
On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 2:12 PM, Paul Johnson pauljoh...@gmail.com wrote:
 On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves
 spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com wrote:
  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
 Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:

 I think this is a great suggestion.

 I notice the R mailing list already has a gesture in this direction:
 Rudeness and ad hominem comments are not acceptable. Brevity is OK.

 But the people who behave badly don't care about policies like this
 and they will keep doing what they do.

Although it may seem hard to justify rudeness its often the case that
even the most bizarre behavior makes sense if you view it from the
perspective of that person.   In the case of the R list there is a
larger potential demand for free help than resources to answer and
without the usual monetary economics to allocate resources I believe
that the functional purpose of rudeness here is to ration those
resources and minimize duplication of questions.  If that is correct
one can predict that if civility were to become the norm on this list
then other rationing mechanisms would arise to replace it.

For example, it might become the norm that most questions are not
answered or are answered less thoroughly or the list might be replaced
as the de facto goto medium for R questions by some other list or web
site so we have to be careful about unintended consequences.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Spencer Graves

 Hi, Gabor, et al.:


  Can anyone comment on the experience of the Ubuntu Forums and 
LinuxQuestions.org, mentioned in the Wikipedia article I cited?



  Gabor makes an interesting point.  However, logic without data is 
a very poor tool for decision making, because great sounding assumptions 
have often led to conclusions that sound great but are 
counterproductive.  People with experience with the Ubuntu Forums and 
LinuxQuestions.org should be able to provide some insight here.



  Best Wishes,
  Spencer


On 8/20/2010 11:37 AM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 2:12 PM, Paul Johnsonpauljoh...@gmail.com  wrote:

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves
spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com  wrote:

  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:


I think this is a great suggestion.

I notice the R mailing list already has a gesture in this direction:
Rudeness and ad hominem comments are not acceptable. Brevity is OK.

But the people who behave badly don't care about policies like this
and they will keep doing what they do.

Although it may seem hard to justify rudeness its often the case that
even the most bizarre behavior makes sense if you view it from the
perspective of that person.   In the case of the R list there is a
larger potential demand for free help than resources to answer and
without the usual monetary economics to allocate resources I believe
that the functional purpose of rudeness here is to ration those
resources and minimize duplication of questions.  If that is correct
one can predict that if civility were to become the norm on this list
then other rationing mechanisms would arise to replace it.

For example, it might become the norm that most questions are not
answered or are answered less thoroughly or the list might be replaced
as the de facto goto medium for R questions by some other list or web
site so we have to be careful about unintended consequences.

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel



--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Reproducible Research task view

2010-08-20 Thread Roger D. Peng
For what it's worth, I think this is a great idea.

-roger

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Max Kuhn mxk...@gmail.com wrote:
 I would like to suggest a Reproducible Research CRAN task view. This
 was discussed briefly in one of the useR! sessions this year.

 From quick browse through CRAN, I counted 19 packages that were
 associated with Sweave or other methods for reproducible research. I
 think that we've gotten to a point where some additional documentation
 that enumerates/compares/contrasts the various packages would be
 helpful.

 I'd like to volunteer to create and maintain the task view.

 Any thoughts?

 Thanks,

 Max

 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel




-- 
Roger D. Peng  |  http://www.biostat.jhsph.edu/~rpeng/

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread P J JAYNES

Hello,
 
 I have found the people associated with this list to be VERY helpful over the 
years. This is especially appreciated as, some of my answers have come from the 
same people who are busy improving R: a fascinating, potent set of software 
tools, excellently supported. In my humble opinion, the anti-thesis of a 
commercial for profit software analogue.
 
Good Luck to you,
 
John
 
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:06:05 -0500
From: kw.s...@gmail.com
To: spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com
CC: r-devel@r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

Recently I was visiting with people about why commercial support is needed
for some people using R.  One person observed:
 
With commercial support, you have a person that you can call with questions
and yell at.
With R mailing lists, you can ask questions and have people yell at YOU.
 
The atmosphere of the R-help and R-devel mailing lists is infamous.  Is this
a good reputation to have?  I'm doubtful that it is.
 
So, I support Spencer's suggestion for more civility.
 
Kevin Wright
 
 
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves 
spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com wrote:
 
  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
 Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:


 The Ubuntu Forums and LinuxQuestions.org, for instance, have instituted no
 RTFM policies to promote a welcoming atmosphere.[8][9].

 RTFM [and] Go look on google are two inappropriate responses to a
 question. If you don't know the answer or don't wish to help, please say
 nothing instead of brushing off someone's question. Politely showing someone
 how you searched or obtained the answer to a question is acceptable, even
 encouraged.
 ...

 If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when
 they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be very
 polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the
 user asking the question, i.e. STFU or RTFM are unacceptable and will
 not be tolerated. —Ubuntu Forums


 Gavin Simpson and I recently provided examples answering a question from
 r.ookie that had previously elicited responses, You want us to read the
 help page to you? and It yet again appears that you are asking us to read
 the help pages for you.


 I can appreciate the sentiment in fortunes('rtfm'). In this case, however,
 r.ookie had RTFM (and said so), but evidently the manual was not
 sufficiently clear.


 Best Wishes,
 Spencer Graves

 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

 
 
 
-- 
Kevin Wright
 
[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
 

__ R-devel@r-project.org mailing 
list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel  
 
[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Ravi Varadhan
I completely agree with you, John.  In my view, there is no need for
explicit RTFM or GLOG statements.  

Best,
Ravi.

-Original Message-
From: r-devel-boun...@r-project.org [mailto:r-devel-boun...@r-project.org]
On Behalf Of P J JAYNES
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 4:40 PM
To: kw.s...@gmail.com; spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com
Cc: r-devel@r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] No RTFM?


Hello,
 
 I have found the people associated with this list to be VERY helpful over
the years. This is especially appreciated as, some of my answers have come
from the same people who are busy improving R: a fascinating, potent set of
software tools, excellently supported. In my humble opinion, the anti-thesis
of a commercial for profit software analogue.
 
Good Luck to you,
 
John
 
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:06:05 -0500
From: kw.s...@gmail.com
To: spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com
CC: r-devel@r-project.org
Subject: Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

Recently I was visiting with people about why commercial support is needed
for some people using R.  One person observed:
 
With commercial support, you have a person that you can call with questions
and yell at.
With R mailing lists, you can ask questions and have people yell at YOU.
 
The atmosphere of the R-help and R-devel mailing lists is infamous.  Is this
a good reputation to have?  I'm doubtful that it is.
 
So, I support Spencer's suggestion for more civility.
 
Kevin Wright
 
 
On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 7:08 PM, Spencer Graves 
spencer.gra...@structuremonitoring.com wrote:
 
  What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing lists?
 Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:


 The Ubuntu Forums and LinuxQuestions.org, for instance, have 
 instituted no RTFM policies to promote a welcoming atmosphere.[8][9].

 RTFM [and] Go look on google are two inappropriate responses to a 
 question. If you don't know the answer or don't wish to help, please 
 say nothing instead of brushing off someone's question. Politely 
 showing someone how you searched or obtained the answer to a question 
 is acceptable, even encouraged.
 ...

 If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources 
 when they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be 
 very polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful 
 towards the user asking the question, i.e. STFU or RTFM are 
 unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Ubuntu Forums


 Gavin Simpson and I recently provided examples answering a question 
 from r.ookie that had previously elicited responses, You want us 
 to read the help page to you? and It yet again appears that you are 
 asking us to read the help pages for you.


 I can appreciate the sentiment in fortunes('rtfm'). In this case, 
 however, r.ookie had RTFM (and said so), but evidently the manual 
 was not sufficiently clear.


 Best Wishes,
 Spencer Graves

 __
 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

 
 
 
--
Kevin Wright
 
[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
 

__ R-devel@r-project.org mailing
list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] Reproducible Research task view

2010-08-20 Thread Achim Zeileis

Yes, sure, good idea.

Please have a look at

  vignette(ctv-howto, package = ctv)

and write a draft file

  ReproducibleResearch.ctv

and e-mail it to me. Then I'll probably make some suggestions/comments 
before bringing it to CRAN. And when it's online, you can announce it on 
the list and ask for further feedback.


Thanks in advance,
Z

On Fri, 20 Aug 2010, Roger D. Peng wrote:


For what it's worth, I think this is a great idea.

-roger

On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Max Kuhn mxk...@gmail.com wrote:

I would like to suggest a Reproducible Research CRAN task view. This
was discussed briefly in one of the useR! sessions this year.


From quick browse through CRAN, I counted 19 packages that were

associated with Sweave or other methods for reproducible research. I
think that we've gotten to a point where some additional documentation
that enumerates/compares/contrasts the various packages would be
helpful.

I'd like to volunteer to create and maintain the task view.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Max

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel





--
Roger D. Peng  |  http://www.biostat.jhsph.edu/~rpeng/

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


Re: [Rd] No RTFM?

2010-08-20 Thread Dr. David Kirkby

On 08/20/10 01:08 AM, Spencer Graves wrote:

What do you think about adding a No RTFM policy to the R mailing
lists? Per, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM:


The Ubuntu Forums and LinuxQuestions.org, for instance, have instituted
no RTFM policies to promote a welcoming atmosphere.[8][9].

RTFM [and] Go look on google are two inappropriate responses to a
question. If you don't know the answer or don't wish to help, please say
nothing instead of brushing off someone's question. Politely showing
someone how you searched or obtained the answer to a question is
acceptable, even encouraged.
...

If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when
they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be very
polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards
the user asking the question, i.e. STFU or RTFM are unacceptable and
will not be tolerated. —Ubuntu Forums


Gavin Simpson and I recently provided examples answering a question from
r.ookie that had previously elicited responses, You want us to read
the help page to you? and It yet again appears that you are asking us
to read the help pages for you.


I can appreciate the sentiment in fortunes('rtfm'). In this case,
however, r.ookie had RTFM (and said so), but evidently the manual was
not sufficiently clear.


Best Wishes,
Spencer Graves


I've personally found the R community somewhat unhelpful at times. In fact, of 
all the resources I use:


 * Newsgroups like comp.unix.shell, sci.math.symbolic, comp.unix.aix, 
comp.unix.solaris

 * Mailing lists for autoconf, automake, gcc, sage maths, ecl, time-nuts.
 * Forums for OpenSolaris

I've found the r-devel about the least helpful of the lot.

My most recent example was when I created a bug report about a version of R that 
was about 4 months old. The bug was that the configure test failed to detect the 
version of libicu was unsuitable on Solaris. (Since it was the version of the 
library shipped with Solaris, I would personally have thought the configure 
script should detect its too old if it is).


When submitting the bug, I selected the particular R version from the pull-down 
menu, as it was listed.


Then I got some snotty reply about reading the FAQ and not submitting bug 
reports for old versions of R. At the time I submitted it, I suspect the version 
I had was about 4 months old. Ask on a Solaris mailing list about a 5 year old 
version of Solaris and you will get civil replies. Likewise, the gcc lists don't 
expect everyone to be running very recent versions.


I would have like to have responded on the technical content of the message, as 
I believe the autoconf test is flawed if it can't detect that a version of a 
library installed by Sun is unsuitable. But I decided that such responses were 
best ignored.


There's quite a bit in the R manual about Solaris that is just plain wrong, but 
although I've reported some of the problems, these were ignored, so I can't even 
be bothered to report the rest.


I must admit, I do sometimes give people links to

http://justfuckinggoogleit.com/

when I think they are being particularly dumb in not using Google, so I do 
appreciate it can get annoying when people ask questions they should be able to 
get answered themselves.


But it seems to me that arrogance is more normal on r-devel than on other lists 
I use.


Thankfully, I don't have to use r-devel much.

Flames to /dev/null.

Dave

__
R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel