R help - Apr 2017 - Setting .Rprofile for RStudio on a Windows 7 x64bit

Well, to be fair, .Rprofile is an R configuration file, so it was merely the
subject line that was off-topic.
-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On April 15, 2017 4:24:06 PM PDT, Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz>
wrote:
>On 16/04/17 07:57, BR_email wrote:
>> Boris:
>> As before, you assume that I, Bruce Ratner, just asks questions
>without
>> first trying it myself.
>> FYI: I purchased and read four RStudio books, as well as all the
>links I
>> found in the web.
>> I will not take your maligning me.
>> Please try to assist me, but do not bully me.
>> Bruce Ratner, Ph.D.
>
>Bruce, you are being preciously hypersensitive.  Boris's comment was 
>completely appropriate and betrayed not the slightest trace of 
>"bullying".  If you had indeed done your homework in the manner
that
>Boris recommended you would had no need to clutter this mailing list 
>with your (off-topic) question.
>
>cheers,
>
>Rolf Turner

Bruce

The official documentation for these startup files can be obtained with the
command

Help(Startup)

at the R prompt or through search help in R studio.  I have used R in
various versions of Windows and Linux using the console version of R and
various IDEs including Rstudio and these have always worked as expected.
Rstudio has no specific effect on the location or use of these files. Now,
I only have access to PCs with windows 10 and can not check if there is any
specific problem with windows 7.  I did use the startup files in earlier
versions of windows and have no recollection of any problems. There are
some peculiarities with Windows that you might check.

Henrik has outlined some of the problems that may arise with file name
extensions. Windows does not display extensions for file names with known
extensions. Many windows programs add their file extension to files when
they save them. I used to recommend to students that they configure windows
explorer to display file extensions. This is relatively easy to do in
Windows explorer in any version of windows. needless to say many students
ignored this advice and later ran into problems.

Windows may have problems saving files that start with a period. I use
notepad++ as a general test editor. On my system notepad++ can save files
whose names start with a period. The editor in Rstudio can also do so on my
system. I do remember having problems with an earlier version of Windows.

On windows 10  one must right click on the notepad++ or other editor icon
and select run as administrator to edit a file in the Program Files
directory.  I don't remember to what extent this applies to Windows 7.

I have worked over the years with many people who were not native English
speakers even though they spoke very good English. The tone of their
interventions could sometimes cause problems. I think that the links that
you were given would have gone some way to solving your problem. I don't
think that the language used was intended to bully or cause offence. I
still think that an apology is in order. If someone volunteers an answer
look at its content rather than its brevity, tone or use of language. This
list depends on volunteers and they should be thanked rather than maligned.

John C Frain
3 Aranleigh Park
Rathfarnham
Dublin 14
Ireland
www.tcd.ie/Economics/staff/frainj/home.html
mailto:frainj at tcd.ie
mailto:frainj at gmail.com

On 16 April 2017 at 00:57, Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>
wrote:
> Well, to be fair, .Rprofile is an R configuration file, so it was merely
> the subject line that was off-topic.
> --
> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.
>
> On April 15, 2017 4:24:06 PM PDT, Rolf Turner <r.turner at
auckland.ac.nz>
> wrote:
> >On 16/04/17 07:57, BR_email wrote:
> >> Boris:
> >> As before, you assume that I, Bruce Ratner, just asks questions
> >without
> >> first trying it myself.
> >> FYI: I purchased and read four RStudio books, as well as all the
> >links I
> >> found in the web.
> >> I will not take your maligning me.
> >> Please try to assist me, but do not bully me.
> >> Bruce Ratner, Ph.D.
> >
> >Bruce, you are being preciously hypersensitive.  Boris's comment
was
> >completely appropriate and betrayed not the slightest trace of
> >"bullying".  If you had indeed done your homework in the
manner that
> >Boris recommended you would had no need to clutter this mailing list
> >with your (off-topic) question.
> >
> >cheers,
> >
> >Rolf Turner
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
> posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Dear John:
Thank you so much for your continued support. You are exceptional. 
I have followed everything you stated with no success. 
Prior to asking a question, I promise you my style is "to solve it
myself."
I read everything on the web, and purchased and read $200 in books. 

I hate to repeat, but on the only three questions I ever submitted to R-help ,
since I started with R, I received several technical suggestions of what to do.
Yet, Boris replied all three times with "read the manuals, go to websites,
and stop spamming."
I'm sorry, but Boris' implies that I haven't done the basics and I
want someone to just give me the answer to my question.

Those who reply with positive suggestions vs. Boris who tells me that he's
not going to do my due diligence - indicates Boris' condescending attitude.
I don't know why he responds to my last two questions, given I politely
informed him that I have done the basic reading, etc?

Regardless, you are professional, helpful, and very proper. 
Unfortunately, I don't think I will use R-help, in fear of Boris. 

Bruce
______________
Bruce Ratner PhD
The Significant Statistician?
Statistical Predictive Analytics -- www.DMSTAT1.com
Machine-Learning Data Mining -- www.GenIQ.net


> On Apr 16, 2017, at 4:46 PM, John C Frain <frainj at gmail.com>
wrote:
> 
> Bruce
> 
> The official documentation for these startup files can be obtained with the
command
> 
> Help(Startup)
> 
> at the R prompt or through search help in R studio.  I have used R in
various versions of Windows and Linux using the console version of R and various
IDEs including Rstudio and these have always worked as expected. Rstudio has no
specific effect on the location or use of these files. Now, I only have access
to PCs with windows 10 and can not check if there is any specific problem with
windows 7.  I did use the startup files in earlier versions of windows and have
no recollection of any problems. There are some peculiarities with Windows that
you might check.
> 
> Henrik has outlined some of the problems that may arise with file name
extensions. Windows does not display extensions for file names with known
extensions. Many windows programs add their file extension to files when they
save them. I used to recommend to students that they configure windows explorer
to display file extensions. This is relatively easy to do in Windows explorer in
any version of windows. needless to say many students ignored this advice and
later ran into problems.
> 
> Windows may have problems saving files that start with a period. I use
notepad++ as a general test editor. On my system notepad++ can save files whose
names start with a period. The editor in Rstudio can also do so on my system. I
do remember having problems with an earlier version of Windows.
> 
> On windows 10  one must right click on the notepad++ or other editor icon
and select run as administrator to edit a file in the Program Files directory. 
I don't remember to what extent this applies to Windows 7.
> 
> I have worked over the years with many people who were not native English
speakers even though they spoke very good English. The tone of their
interventions could sometimes cause problems. I think that the links that you
were given would have gone some way to solving your problem. I don't think
that the language used was intended to bully or cause offence. I still think
that an apology is in order. If someone volunteers an answer look at its content
rather than its brevity, tone or use of language. This list depends on
volunteers and they should be thanked rather than maligned.
> 
> John C Frain
> 3 Aranleigh Park
> Rathfarnham
> Dublin 14
> Ireland
> www.tcd.ie/Economics/staff/frainj/home.html
> mailto:frainj at tcd.ie
> mailto:frainj at gmail.com
> 
>> On 16 April 2017 at 00:57, Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil at
dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
>> Well, to be fair, .Rprofile is an R configuration file, so it was
merely the subject line that was off-topic.
>> --
>> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.
>> 
>> On April 15, 2017 4:24:06 PM PDT, Rolf Turner <r.turner at
auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
>> >On 16/04/17 07:57, BR_email wrote:
>> >> Boris:
>> >> As before, you assume that I, Bruce Ratner, just asks
questions
>> >without
>> >> first trying it myself.
>> >> FYI: I purchased and read four RStudio books, as well as all
the
>> >links I
>> >> found in the web.
>> >> I will not take your maligning me.
>> >> Please try to assist me, but do not bully me.
>> >> Bruce Ratner, Ph.D.
>> >
>> >Bruce, you are being preciously hypersensitive.  Boris's
comment was
>> >completely appropriate and betrayed not the slightest trace of
>> >"bullying".  If you had indeed done your homework in the
manner that
>> >Boris recommended you would had no need to clutter this mailing
list
>> >with your (off-topic) question.
>> >
>> >cheers,
>> >
>> >Rolf Turner
>> 
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> 
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On 17/04/17 08:46, John C Frain wrote:
> Bruce
>
> The official documentation for these startup files can be obtained with
> the command
>
> Help(Startup)

Minor point of order, Mr. Chairman.  That should be:

     help(Startup)

There is (as far as I know) no such function as "Help()".  It is 
important to remember that R is case sensitive.

Another point that is worthy of thought is "How in God's name would any
beginner know or find out about the usage help(Startup)?"  Unless they 
were explicitly told about it, in the manner which you just 
demonstrated.  The usage gets a mention in "An Introduction to R" --- 
but I had to search for it.

To me the word "startup" is not terribly intuitive.  I would tend to 
search for "starting" rather than "startup", I think, but
I'm not sure
what the average beginner would search for.  A search of "An 
Introduction to R" for "starting" gets seven or eight hits, one
of which
is relevant.  So it all takes patience and persistence.

Also note that "An Introduction to R" mostly uses the word
"startup"
(lower case "s") and only uses "Startup" twice.  Note also
that

     help(startup)

fails.  You have to get that initial "S" right.

This isn't a criticism of the documentation.  I'm just pointing out that
there are problems, mostly insoluble.  Until some clever Johnny gets on 
with developing that mind_read() function referred to in fortune(182).

cheers,

Rolf Turner

-- 
Technical Editor ANZJS
Department of Statistics
University of Auckland
Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276