R help - Oct 1997 - R-beta: Some General Questions

I'll take a stab at answering a couple of your questions.

"MIKE FLEMING"<mike_fleming_at_nass-fx at nass.usda.gov> writes:
>      3. Shell commands like !pwd do not work on my installation of R like
>         they do for me in Splus. Does R support the use of shell commands?
In R you have to fall back on the more basic function called
"system".  If I want to find out the current working directory I would
use
 R> system("pwd")
 /home/bates/courses/st849
>      4. Is there a matrix library for R like the one used for Splus? Is
>         such a library needed by R?
Not presently.  Since the LAPACK code is freely available it would be
possible to create such a library.  If a library were being created I
would advocate going directly to a C++ implementation of the linear
algebra code, such as lapack++ or TNT (see http://math.nist.gov/tnt/)
since R can interface with C++ code.
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I would like to introduce R to the statistical community at large in 
     the Washington, D.C. area. I will be giving a presentation, a part of 
     which will be devoted to a discussion of R, before the Washington 
     Statistical Society (WSS) on 15 October. Anyone residing in the D.C. 
     area is welcomed to come. Also, if a developer should have plans of 
     being Washington and would like to give a presentation before the WSS 
     on R or some aspect of statistical computing in general, please notify 
     me:
     
     Mike Fleming
     Co-Chairman, Statistical Computing Section
     Washington Statistical Society
     mfleming at nass.usda.gov
     703-235-5213 ext. 170
     
     The answers to my questions will help me in preparing for my talk:
     
     1. I saw a reference to the Fullerton Library in one of the r-help     
        messages recently. What and where is it?
     
     2. Has there been developed a function like sas.get for R or can       
        the one found at statlib in the directory for S be used? 
     
     3. Shell commands like !pwd do not work on my installation of R like   
        they do for me in Splus. Does R support the use of shell commands?
     
     4. Is there a matrix library for R like the one used for Splus? Is     
        such a library needed by R?
     
     5. Is there any work being done on GUI front ends like the dialog      
        functions found in Splus?
     
     6. I learned that MathSoft intends to make its S code inaccessible for 
        use in R. Is that true, how can that be achieved, and what are the  
        implications of it in the development and use of R?
     
     7. How many developers are there that regularly contribute to the      
        development of R?
     
     8. What is R's development platform?
     
     The compilation of R on my Linux box was easy. It was troublesome, at 
     first, to compile it on a Solaris2.5 platform. Once I defined the 
     environmental variable: OPENWINHOME=/usr/openwin, the compilation 
     proceeded without a problem. I wish compilations of other software 
     were so nice.
     
     9. What is the procedure for the submission of software for R?
        Are unsolicited submissions or developed utilities not found on     
        the "TO DO" list welcomed?
     
     Thank you, 
     
     Mike Fleming
     mfleming at nass.usda.gov
     
     
      


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