At 21:57 28/02/01 +0100, Peter Dalgaard BSA wrote:>Jim Lemon <bitwrit at ozemail.com.au> writes: > >> 3) The usual number of responses spent a lot of time dissing NotePad and >> advertising their favorite editor. As various contributors noted, >> NotePad actually does most of the things that some people said it >> doesn't. Positive advice (like the fact that NotePad _always_ saves in >> plain text) is usually helpful. Negative advice always reminds me of >> the marketing practices of some software companies. > >Hmm, well, by your defs > >negative x 2: >Notepad conks out at 64 K or thereaboutsNot on my NT4.0 system: I can open files > 1 Mb.>Notepad doesn't do search and replaceNot on my NT4.0 system: I can do search/replace. It's true that NotePad is not so bad for someone who starts with R, and I used it during some time (and still does). But I recently discovered ESS with XEmacs on a Solaris machine, and I must admit that it is _really_ different. After all, it would be good for a beginner to have the features of ESS (syntax highlitning, buffer execution, automatic indentation, ...) rather than waiting to be experienced with R. (I seem to remember that the R-FAQ recommends ESS.) Emmanuel Paradis -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
>>>>> "EP" == Emmanuel Paradis <paradis at isem.univ-montp2.fr> writes:EP> It's true that NotePad is not so bad for someone who starts EP> with R, and I used it during some time (and still does). But I EP> recently discovered ESS with XEmacs on a Solaris machine, and EP> I must admit that it is _really_ different. After all, it EP> would be good for a beginner to have the features of ESS EP> (syntax highlitning, buffer execution, automatic indentation, EP> ...) rather than waiting to be experienced with R. (I seem to EP> remember that the R-FAQ recommends ESS.) For our "intro to computing session" (3-5 hour session) for our incoming grad students, we force this on them, with the intent being that they shouldn't get used to any other approach (after all, it DOES work on windows, and probably could work on Macs (at least OS X), as well...). We also teach LaTeX via AucTeX at the same time, suggesting that they really need to become familiar with XEmacs (XEmacs, due to x-symbol, primarily). Sometimes it sticks, sometimes not, but usually they learn that the only way to run S-Plus (and eventually R) is "xemacs -f S" (aka "xemacs -f R"). This has only been the last 2 years, but then again, I've been teaching that session... :-). Older grad students have tended to be stuck in their ways, and have generally not transformed as readily (ditto with some of our faculty), supporting the "hit them hard, hit them early" approach. Of course, that _was_ a generalization; specific cases differ from the median. best, -tony -- A.J. Rossini Rsrch. Asst. Prof. of Biostatistics UW Biostat/Center for AIDS Research rossini at u.washington.edu FHCRC/SCHARP/HIV Vaccine Trials Net rossini at scharp.org -------- (friday is unknown) -------- FHCRC: M--W : 206-667-7025 (fax=4812)|Voicemail is pretty sketchy CFAR: ?? : 206-731-3647 (fax=3694)|Email is far better than phone UW: Th : 206-543-1044 (fax=3286)|Change last 4 digits of phone to FAX -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Emmanuel Paradis wrote:> At 21:57 28/02/01 +0100, Peter Dalgaard BSA wrote: > >Jim Lemon <bitwrit at ozemail.com.au> writes: > > > >> 3) The usual number of responses spent a lot of time dissing NotePad and > >> advertising their favorite editor. As various contributors noted, > >> NotePad actually does most of the things that some people said it > >> doesn't. Positive advice (like the fact that NotePad _always_ saves in > >> plain text) is usually helpful. Negative advice always reminds me of > >> the marketing practices of some software companies. > > > >Hmm, well, by your defs > > > >negative x 2: > >Notepad conks out at 64 K or thereabouts > > Not on my NT4.0 system: I can open files > 1 Mb. > > >Notepad doesn't do search and replace > > Not on my NT4.0 system: I can do search/replace. > > It's true that NotePad is not so bad for someone who starts with R, and I > used it during some time (and still does). But I recently discovered ESS > with XEmacs on a Solaris machine, and I must admit that it is _really_ > different. After all, it would be good for a beginner to have the features > of ESS (syntax highlitning, buffer execution, automatic indentation, ...) > rather than waiting to be experienced with R. (I seem to remember that the > R-FAQ recommends ESS.)Just to remind people that ESS and FSF Emacs run on Windows too. (There is or was also an Xemacs port to Windows, but I have very little experience with it.) I use Emacs as an editor, not out a great love of its interface, but because it works in exactly the same way on all the OSes and interfaces I need to use. -- Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272860 (secr) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._