General Information: README
***************************
This is the README file for the distribution of ESS version
5.2.3
The first release of the 5.2 series. ESS is a GNU Emacs and XEmacs
mode for interactive statistical programming and data analysis.
Languages supported: the S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3/4/5/6, and R), SAS,
XLispStat, Stata and BUGS. Installation help can be found in sections
for both Unix and Windows. ESS grew out of the desire for bug fixes and
extensions to S-mode and SAS-mode as well as a consistent union of their
features in one package.
The current development team is led by Martin Maechler since August
2004. Former project leader A.J. (Tony) Rossini
(<rossini@biostat.washington.edu>) did the initial port to XEmacs and
has been the primary coder. Martin Maechler
(<maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch>) and Kurt Hornik
(<hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at>) have assisted with S-PLUS, S4, R, and
XLispStat. Stephen Eglen (<stephen@gnu.org>) has worked mostly on R
support. Richard M. Heiberger (<rmh@temple.edu>) has assisted with
S-PLUS and S4 development for Windows. Richard and Rodney A. Sparapani
(<rsparapa@mcw.edu>) have done much of the work implementing
interactive SAS (iESS[SAS]) and batch SAS (ESS[SAS]) support.
We are grateful to the previous developers of S-mode (Doug Bates, Ed
Kademan, Frank Ritter, David M. Smith), SAS-mode (Tom Cook) and
Stata-mode (Thomas Lumley).
License
=======
ESS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
version.
ESS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
in the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details.
New Features
============
Changes/New Features in 5.2.3:
* ESS: When new inferior ESS processes are created, by default they
will replace the current buffer (this restores behavior from pre
5.2.0). If you wish new ESS processes to start in another window
of the current frame, set inferior-ess-same-window to nil.
* New variables inferior-Splus-args and inferior-R-args provide a
way to pass command line arguments to starting S and R processes.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.2:
* bug-fixes for 5.2.1 (require 'executable), html docs, etc.
* ess-lisp-directory/../doc/info added to Info-directory-list if
ess-info not found by info
* ESS[R]: If you have other versions of R on your exec-path, such as
"R-1.8.1" with Unix or "rw1081" with Windows, ESS will find them
and create appropriate functions, such as M-x R-1.8.1 or M-x
rw1081, for calling them. By default only Unix programs beginning
"R-1" and "R-2" and Windows programs parallel to the version of R
in your exec-path will be found, but see ess-r-versions and
ess-rterm-versions for ways to find other versions of R.
* ESS[R]: Other versions of R, such as "R-1.8.1" on Unix and
"rw1081" on Windows, are added to the "ESS / Start Process /
Other" menu.
* ESS[S]: If you have other versions of S-Plus on your Windows
computer, such as S-Plus 6.1 or S-Plus 4.5, ESS will find them and
create appropriate functions, such as M-x splus61, for calling the
console version (Sqpe) inside an emacs buffer. By default only
programs installed in the default location will be found, but see
ess-SHOME-versions for ways to find other versions of S-Plus.
* ESS[S]: Other versions of Sqpe on Windows, such as "splus61", are
added to the "ESS / Start Process / Other" menu.
* ESS[R]: (bug fix) ess-quit (bound to C-c C-q) should now quit the
inferior R process, when issued from either the inferior buffer,
or from a .R buffer.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.1:
* ESS[S] (R and S-plus): now have toolbar support with icons to
evaluate code in the inferior process or to switch there. This
code is experimental and likely to change as XEmacs/Emacs issues
get resolved. The toolbar should be enabled if your Emacs displays
images, but can be disabled with the variable ess-use-toolbar.
Thanks to David Smith from Insightful for the S-plus logo.
* ESS[SAS]: ess-sas-graph-view (F12) enhanced; you can specify
external file viewers for each graphics file type via the alist
ess-sas-graph-view-viewer-alist; also .jpg/.gif are now handled by
image-mode on XEmacs, if available, otherwise by graphics
primitives as before
Changes/New Features in 5.2.0:
* ESS[BUGS]: new info documentation! now supports interactive
processing thanks to Aki Vehtari (mailto:Aki.Vehtari@hut.fi); new
architecture-independent unix support as well as support for BUGS
v. 0.5
* ESS[SAS]: convert .log to .sas with ess-sas-transcript; info
documentation improved; Local Variable bug fixes; SAS/IML
statements/functions now highlighted; files edited remotely by
ange-ftp/EFS/tramp are recognized and pressing SUBMIT opens a
buffer on the remote host via the local variable
ess-sas-shell-buffer-remote-init which defaults to "ssh"; changed
the definition of the variable ess-sas-edit-keys-toggle to boolean
rather than 0/1; added the function ess-electric-run-semicolon
which automatically reverse indents lines containing only "run;";
C-F1 creates MS RTF portrait from the current buffer; C-F2 creates
MS RTF landscape from the current buffer; C-F9 opens a SAS DATASET
with PROC INSIGHT rather than PROC FSVIEW; C-F10 kills all buffers
associated with .sas program; "inferior" aliases for SAS batch:
C-c C-r for submit region, C-c C-b for submit buffer, C-c C-x for
goto .log; C-c C-y for goto .lst
* ESS[S]: Pressing underscore ("_") once inserts " <- " (as before);
pressing underscore twice inserts a literal underscore. To stop
this smart behaviour, add "(ess-smart-underscore nil)" to your
.emacs after ess-site has been loaded;
ess-dump-filename-template-proto (new name!) now can be customized
successfully (for S language dialects); Support for Imenu has been
improved; set ess-imenu-use-S to non-nil to get an "Imenu-S" item
on your menubar; ess-help: Now using nice underlines (instead of
`nuke-* ^H_')
* ESS[R]: After (require 'essa-r), M-x ess-r-var allows to load
numbers from any Emacs buffer into an existing *R* process; M-x
ess-rdired gives a "directory editor" of R objects; fixed
ess-retr-lastvalue-command, i.e. .Last.value bug (thanks to David
Brahm)
* ESS: Support for creating new window frames has been added to ESS.
Inferior ESS processes can be created in dedicated frames by
setting inferior-ess-own-frame to t. ESS help buffers can also
open in new frames; see the documentation for ess-help-own-frame
for details. (Thanks to Kevin Rodgers for contributing code.)
Changes/New Features in 5.1.24:
* The version number is now correct even inside ESS/Emacs
Changes/New Features in 5.1.23:
* Minor more Makefile clean up.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.22:
* Besides info documentation, PDF and HTML documentation are also
provided (instead of built using "make") and available on the web
as well; see ESS web page
(http://software.biostat.washington.edu/ess/doc) and StatLib
(http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/doc)
* Now that info documentation is available, the README.* files are
no longer supported. However, they are still distributed for what
it's worth.
* ESS is now an XEmacs package! See XEmacs Installation HOWTO
(http://www.xemacs.org/Install/index.html) for details
(specifically, items 10-15).
* ESS[SAS]: more user-friendly enhancements for remote SAS batch
jobs with Kermit file transfers (LOG and OUTPUT function key
features now supported). Multiple shells now supported so you can
run SAS on different computers from different buffers by setting
the buffer-local variable ess-sas-shell-buffer to unique buffer
names.
* Major re-vamping of Makefile/Makeconf.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.21:
* ESS[SAS]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for
SAS; F12 opens GSASFILE nearest point for viewing either within
emacs, when available, or via an external viewer; more syntax
highlighting keywords; more enhancements for remote SAS batch jobs
with Kermit; new framework for remote SAS interactive jobs, see
ess-remote
* ESS[S]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for the S
family
* Makefile: tag now independent of rel; info files made by
doc/Makefile and installed in new info sub-directory
Changes/New Features in 5.1.20:
* New `options()$STERM' in the S dialects (S, S-Plus, R). The S
program can determine the environment in which it is currently
running. ESS sets the option to `iESS' or `ddeESS' when it starts
an S language process. We recommend other specific values for S
language processes that ESS does not start.
* New `ess-mouse-me' function, assigned to S-mouse-3 by default.
User may click on a word or region and then choose from the menu
to display the item, or a summary, or a plot, etc. This feature
is still under development.
* GNU Emacs 21.1 is now supported (fixed for S dialects, SAS & BUGS),
(some from Stephen Eglen).
* XEmacs 21.x is now supported (fixed w32-using-nt bug)
* XEmacs on Win (NT) is better supported.
* Workaround for bug in Sqpe+6 (S-PLUS 6 for Win).
* should now work even when imenu is not available (for old
Xemacsen).
* ESS[SAS]: XEmacs-Imenu fix; C-TAB is globalized along with your
function-key definitions, if specified; you can specify your SAS
library definitions outside of autoexec.sas for ess-sas-data-view
with SAS code placed in the variable ess-sas-data-view-libname,
also the dataset name is defaulted to the nearest permanent dataset
to point; Speedbar support now works for permanent datasets, please
ignore first./last.; new font-locking is now the default with more
improvements for font-locking PROCs, macro statements, * ; and %* ;
comments; you can toggle sas-log-mode with F10 which will font-lock
your .log (if it isn't too big); submit remote .sas files accessed
with ange-ftp, EFS or Tramp (Kermit is experimental) by setting
ess-sas-submit-method to 'sh; ess-sas-submit-command and
ess-sas-submit-command-options are buffer-local so you can have
local file variable sections at the end of your .sas files to
request different executables or specify special options and the
local file variables are re-read at submit instead of only at file
open so that if you make a change it is picked up immediately;
* ESS[BUGS]: font-lock with `in' fixed.
* for STATA: font-lock bug fixed.
* for Rd mode: C-c C-v and `switch-process' in menu. further, C-c
C-f prefix (Rd-font) for inserting or surrounding a word by things
such as \code{.}, \code{\link{.}}, \emph{.} etc.
* new functions (ess-directory-function) and (ess-narrow-to-defun)
ess-directory <-> default-directory logic (Jeff Mincy).
* Re-organized Makefile and fixed a few bugs.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.19:
* S+6 now supported (Tony Rossini (Unix) and Rich Heiberger
(Windows))
* New BUGS support through ESS[BUGS] mode (Rodney Sparapani)
Templates assist you in writing .bug and .cmd code (.cmd and .log
are replaced by .bmd and .bog to avoid emacs extension collisions).
Substitution" parameters facilitate "automagic" generation of
data...in" and "init...in" filenames, "const N=" from your data
file and "monitor()/stats()" commands. Activated by pressing F12.
* Fixes for `ess-smart-underscore' SAS breakage (Rich Heiberger)
* You can change between PC and Unix, local and global SAS
function-key definitions interactively (Rich Heiberger)
* C-Submit a highlighted region to SAS batch (Rodney Sparapani)
* New and improved SAS syntax highlighting (Rodney Sparapani) To get
the new functionality, set ess-sas-run-make-regexp to nil. Also
available in .log files via F10.
* Open a permanent SAS dataset for viewing via F9 (Rodney Sparapani)
You must have the library defined in autoexec.sas for it to work.
* User-friendly defaults for `sas-program',
`ess-sas-batch-pre-command' and `ess-sas-batch-post-command' as
well Customize support for these and other ESS[SAS] variables
(Rodney Sparapani)
* `ess-sas-suffix-2' now defaults to .dat via F11 (Rodney Sparapani)
* Emacs/XEmacs, Unix/Windows issues collectively handled in
ess-emcs.el
* defadvice solves problem of missing *ESS* (thanks to Jeff Mincy)
* Improved manual a bit by including things that were only in
`README'.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.18:
* New `ess-smart-underscore' function, now assigned to "_" by
default. Inserts `ess-S-assign' (customizable " <- "), unless
inside string and comments where plain "_" is used instead. (MM)
* Fixes for longstanding interactive SAS breakage (RMH)
Changes/New Features in 5.1.17:
* Documentation for Windows Installation (Rich Heiberger)
* removal of ess-vars, finalization of customize support (in the
sense that there is no more use of ess-vars, but that we need to
fix ess-cust) (AJ Rossini)
* Many small (and large) fixes/contributions (MMaechler)
* addition of the "S-equal" variable and provide M-x ess-add-MM-keys
a way to remap "_" to `ess-S-assign', typically " <- ", but
customizable. (MMaechler)
Changes/New Features in 5.1.16:
* BUG FIXES
* Better SAS support
Changes/New Features in 5.1.15:
* BUG FIXES
Changes/New Features in 5.1.14:
* Yet more fixes to SAS mode, (Rich Heiberger and Rodney Sparapani)
* Customize support (for most Emacsen which support it) (AJRossini)
* ARC and ViSta support out of the box, and fixes for XLispStat
(AJRossini)
Changes/New Features in 5.1.13:
* Version numbering finally all depending on the ./VERSION file,
thanks to Martin Maechler.
* Yet more fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rich Heiberger.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.12:
* Splus 5.1 stabilized, thanks to Martin Maechler, Bill Venables,
Chuck Taylor, and others.
* More fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani and Rich
Heiberger.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.11:
* More fixes to Stata mode, thanks to Brendan Halpin
(mailto:brendan@essex.ac.uk).
* fixed bugs in ESS-elsewhere, thanks to many testers
* README.SPLUS4WIN has DETAILED instructions for S-PLUS 2000, thanks
to David Brahm (mailto:brahm@alum.mit.edu).
* Fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani
Changes/New Features in 5.1.10:
* More fixes to Stata mode
* primitive generic version of ESS-elsewhere
* Small fixes to SAS/Stata.
Changes/New Features in 5.1.9:
* Stata mode works
* Literate Data Analysis using Noweb works
Changes/New Features in 5.1.8:
* Bug fixes
* R documentation mode defaults changed
Changes/New Features in 5.1.2:
* able to use inferior iESS mode to communicate directly with a
running S-Plus 4.x process using the Microsoft DDE protocol. We
use the familiar (from Unix ESS) C-c C-n and related key sequences
to send lines from the S-mode file to the inferior S process. We
continue to edit S input files in ESS[S] mode and transcripts of
previous S sessions in ESS Transcript mode. All three modes know
the S language, syntax, and indentation patterns and provide the
syntactic highlighting that eases the programming tasks.
Current Features
================
* Languages Supported:
* S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x, and R)
* SAS
* BUGS
* Stata
* XLispStat including Arc and ViSta
* Editing source code (S family, SAS, BUGS, XLispStat)
* Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code
* Partial evaluation of code
* Loading and error-checking of code
* Source code revision maintenance
* Batch execution (SAS, BUGS)
* Use of imenu to provide links to appropriate functions
* Interacting with the process (S family, SAS, XLispStat)
* Command-line editing
* Searchable Command history
* Command-line completion of S family object names and file
names
* Quick access to object lists and search lists
* Transcript recording
* Interface to the help system
* Transcript manipulation (S family, XLispStat)
* Recording and saving transcript files
* Manipulating and editing saved transcripts
* Re-evaluating commands from transcript files
* Help File Editing (R)
* Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code.
* Sending Examples to running ESS process.
* Previewing
Stability
=========
Versions 5.2.x are meant to be release-quality versions. While some
new features are being introduced, we are cleaning up and improving the
interface. We know about some remaining documentation inconsistencies.
Patches or suggested fixes with bug reports are much appreciated!
Requirements
============
ESS has been tested with
* S-PLUS 3.3, 3.4, 4.5, 2000, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2
* R >=0.49
* S4
* SAS >=6.12
* BUGS 0.5, 0.603
* Stata >=6.0
* XLispStat >=3.50
on the following platforms
* Linux (all)
* Solaris/SunOS (all)
* Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP (SPLUS 4.5/2000/6.*, R, SAS and
BUGS)
* Apple Mac OS (SAS for OS 9 and X11 R for OS X)
with the following versions of emacs
* GNU Emacs 20.3, 20.4, 20.5, 20.6, 20.7, 21.1, 21.3
* XEmacs 21.0, 21.1.13-14, 21.4.0-8, 21.4.9-13/21.5.17(1),
21.4.14-15; as of June 2004, ESS does not work with XEmacs Betas
such as 21.5.17
* GNU Emacs <20.3 and XEmacs <21.0(2)
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) requires the files.el patch to revert-buffer for the Local
Variables updating problem
(2) These releases of emacs are no longer supported, so an upgrade
is recommended if you plan to use ESS. If you have GNU Emacs 19.29,
see *Note Unix installation::. Also, note that the `custom' library
bundled with Emacs 19.34 is too _old_, its API is incompatible with the
`new custom' bundled with recent Emacsen. The `new custom' for Emacs
19.34 is available for download here
(ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/Staff/Per.Abrahamsen/custom/custom-1.9962.tar.gz).
Getting the Latest Version
==========================
The latest version of ESS is always available on the web at: ESS web
page (http://ess.r-project.org) or StatLib
(http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/)
The latest development version of ESS is available via
`https://svn.R-project.org/ESS/', the ESS Subversion repository. If
you have a Subversion client (see `http://subversion.tigris.org/'), you
can download the sources using:
% svn checkout https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk PATH
which will put the ESS files into directory PATH. Later, within that
directory, `svn update' will bring that directory up to date.
Windows-based tools such as TortoiseSVN are also available for
downloading the files. Alternatively, you can browse the sources with a
web browser at: ESS SVN site (https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk).
However, please use a subversion client instead to minimize the load
when retrieving.
If you remove other versions of ESS from your emacs load-path, you
can then use the development version by adding the following to .emacs:
(load "/path/to/ess-svn/lisp/ess-site.el")
Note that https is required, and that the SSL certificate for the
Subversion server of the R project is
Certificate information:
- Hostname: svn.r-project.org
- Valid: from Jul 16 08:10:01 2004 GMT until Jul 14 08:10:01 2014 GMT
- Issuer: Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, CH
- Fingerprint: c9:5d:eb:f9:f2:56:d1:04:ba:44:61:f8:64:6b:d9:33:3f:93:6e:ad
(currently, there is no "trusted certificate"). You can accept this
certificate permanently and will not be asked about it anymore.
Installation (from tar file)
============================
We now discuss installation, which might happen under Unix or
Microsoft Windows. First, we discuss Unix installation. *Note Unix
installation::.
For Microsoft Windows Installation please skip to the *Note
Microsoft Windows installation::.
Unix installation
=================
1. cd to a directory where you want to install ESS, creating it if
necessary. This directory will be referred to below as ESSDIR.
2. Retrieve the latest version from ESS downloads area
(http://ess.r-project.org/downloads) to ESSDIR.
3. Decompress/unarchive the files from the disribution.
gunzip ess-VERSION.tar.gz
tar xvf ess-VERSION.tar
(or: `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -' ).
(or using GNU tar: `tar zxvf ess-VERSION.tar.gz').
The `tar' command will create the subdirectory ess-VERSION and
unarchive the files there.
4. Edit the file `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site.el' as explained
in the comments section of that file.
5. Add the line
(load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
to your user or system installation file (GNU Emacs uses
`$HOME/.emacs' and XEmacs uses `$HOME/.xemacs/init.el' for the
user initialization file. GNU Emacs uses default.el or
site-init.el and XEmacs uses site-start.el for the system
installation file).
Alternatively, if ess-site.el is in your current Lisp path, you
can do:
(require 'ess-site)
to configure emacs for ESS.
6. That's it! If you are installing just a local copy of ESS for
yourself, ESS is now ready to be used. (The remaining steps below
are for advanced installation.) To edit statistical programs,
load the files with the requiste extensions (".sas" for SAS, ".S"
for S-PLUS, ".R" for R, and ".lsp" for XLispStat). To start a
statistical process within Emacs, such as R, type `M-x R'.
7. (OPTIONAL) If you are running S-PLUS or R, you might consider
installing the database files. From within emacs, `C-x d' to the
directory containing ESS. Now:
M-x S+6
to get S running. Once you see the SPLUS prompt, do:
M-x ess-create-object-name-db
(this will create the file `ess-s+6-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the
ESS directory, move it there).
Then, completions will be autoloaded and will not be regenerated
for every session.
For R, do the same, using
M-x R
and then `M-x ess-create-object-name-db' creating
`ess-r-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the ESS directory, move it
there).
8. (OPTIONAL) READ THIS ITEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING:
If you want to place the compiled files in other locations edit
the LISPDIR and INFODIR entries in `Makeconf' in the
ESSDIR/ess-VERSION directory (if you are using XEmacs, then you
also need to edit the EMACS entry as follows: EMACS=xemacs).
You can compile those files by:
make all
When that completes successfully, install the compiled files:
make install
This will install the compiled info files and lisp files. If you
are an XEmacs user, then you should be done. If not, then you may
have to edit/create the file `dir' that is found in the directory
specified by `INFODIR': see the sample `dir' in
ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/doc/info. If `dir' does not exist in
`INFODIR', then the sample `dir' will be installed.
_Note 1:_ It is assumed that GNU make will be used; otherwise,
edit the ESSVERSION and ESSVERSIONTAG entries in `Makeconf'
appropriately, e.g.: ESSVERSION=5.2.0 and ESSVERSIONTAG=ESS-5-2-0
_Note 2:_ ESS can be installed for XEmacs as an XEmacs package
much more easily than what has been described anywhere above.
However, the latest ESS version will not be available at the same
time as an XEmacs package; generally, it can take weeks or months
to appear in the latter format. For more information on
installing ESS as an XEmacs package see Quickstart Package Guide
(http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packageGuide.html).
Microsoft Windows installation
==============================
For Microsoft Windows installation, please follow the next steps:
(see separate instructions above for UNIX *Note Unix installation::.
1. cd to a directory where you keep emacs lisp files, or create a new
directory (for example, `c:\emacs\') to hold the distribution.
This directory will be referred to below as "the ESS distribution
directory". It will contain, at the end, either the tar file
`ess-VERSION.tar.gz' or the zip file `ess-VERSION.zip', and a
directory for the ESS source, which will be termed "the
ESS-VERSION source directory".
2. Retrieve the compressed tar file `ess-VERSION.tar.gz' or the
zipped file `ess-VERSION.zip' from one of the FTP or WWW archive
sites via FTP (or HTTP). Be aware that http browsers on Windows
frequently change the "." and "-" characters in filenames to other
punctuation. Please change the names back to their original form.
3. Copy `ess-VERSION.tar.gz' to the location where you want the
ess-VERSION directory, for example to
`c:\emacs\ess-VERSION.tar.gz', and cd there. For example,
cd c:\emacs
Extract the files from the distribution, which will unpack into a
subdirectory, `ess-VERSION'.
gunzip ess-VERSION.tar.gz
tar xvf ess-VERSION.tar
(or: `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -' ).
(or: from the zip file: `unzip ess-VERSION.zip')
The `tar' command will extract files into the current directory.
Do not create `ess-VERSION' yourself, or you will get an extra
level of depth to your directory structure.
4. Windows users will usually be able to use the `lisp/ess-site.el'
as distributed. Only rarely will changes be needed.
5. Windows users will need to make sure that the directories for the
software they will be using is in the PATH environment variable.
On Windows 9x, add lines similar to the following to your
`c:\autoexec.bat' file:
path=%PATH%;c:\progra~1\spls2000\cmd
On Windows NT/2000/XP, add the directories to the PATH using the
`My Computer/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment Variables'
menu. Note that the directory containing the program is added to
the PATH, not the program itself. One such line is needed for
each software program. Be sure to use the abbreviation `progra~1'
and not the long version with embedded blanks. Use backslashes
"\".
6. Add the line
(load "/PATH/ess-site")
to your .emacs (or _emacs) file (or default.el or site-init.el, for
a site-wide installation). Replace `/PATH' above with the value
of ess-lisp-directory as defined in `ess-site.el'. Use
forwardslashes `/'. (GNU Emacs uses the filename `%HOME%/.emacs'
and XEmacs uses the filename `%HOME%/.xemacs/init.el' for the
initialization file.)
7. To edit statistical programs, load the files with the requisite
extensions (".sas" for SAS, ".S" or "s" or "q" or "Q" for S-PLUS,
".r" or ".R" for R, and ".lsp" for XLispStat).
8. To run statistical processes under emacs:
To start the S-PLUS 6.x GUI from ESS under emacs:
M-x S
(or `M-x S+6').
You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
propose your current directory as the default. ESS will start the
S-PLUS GUI. There will be slight delay during which emacs is
temporarily frozen. ESS will arrange for communication with the
S-PLUS GUI using the DDE protocol. Send lines or regions from the
emacs buffer containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s')
to the S-PLUS Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys.
(If you are still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x S+4'.)
To start an S-PLUS 6.x session inside an emacs buffer--and without
the S-PLUS GUI:
M-x Sqpe
(or `M-x Sqpe+6').
You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
propose your current directory as the default. You get Unix-like
behavior, in particular the entire transcript is available for
emacs-style search commands. Send lines or regions from the emacs
buffer containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s') to the
*S+6* buffer with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys. Interactive
graphics are available with Sqpe by using the java library
supplied with S-PLUS 6.1 and newer releases. Enter the commands:
library(winjava)
java.graph()
Graphs can be saved from the `java.graph' device in several
formats, but not PostScript. If you need a PostScript file you
will need to open a separate `postscript' device. (If you are
still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x Sqpe+4'.)
To connect to an already running S-PLUS GUI (started, for example,
from the S-PLUS icon):
M-x S+6-existing
You will then be asked for a pathname ("S starting data
directory?"), from which to start the process. The prompt will
propose your current directory as the default. ESS will arrange
for communication with the already running S-PLUS GUI using the
DDE protocol. Send lines or regions from the emacs buffer
containing your S program (for example, `myfile.s') to the S-PLUS
Commands Window with the `C-c C-n' or `C-c C-r' keys. (If you are
still using S-PLUS 4.x or 2000, then use `M-x S+4-existing'.)
If you wish to run R, you can start it with:
M-x R
XLispStat can not currently be run with
M-x XLS
Hopefully, this will change. However, you can still edit with
emacs, and cut and paste the results into the XLispStat *Listener*
Window under Microsoft Windows.
9. (OPTIONAL) If you are running Sqpe or R, you might consider
installing the database files. From within emacs, `C-x d' to the
directory containing ESS. Now:
M-x Sqpe+6
to get S running. Once you see the SPLUS prompt, do:
M-x ess-create-object-name-db
(this will create the file `ess-s+6-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the
ESS directory, move it there).
Then, completions will be autoloaded and will not be regenerated
for every session.
For R, do the same, using
M-x R
and then `M-x ess-create-object-name-db' creating
`ess-r-namedb.el'; if it isn't in the ESS directory, move it
there).
10. That's it!
Reporting Bugs
==============
Please send bug reports, suggestions etc. to
<ESS-bugs@stat.math.ethz.ch>
The easiest way to do this is within Emacs by typing
`M-x ess-submit-bug-report'
This also gives the maintainers valuable information about your
installation which may help us to identify or even fix the bug.
If Emacs reports an error, backtraces can help us debug the problem.
Type "M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET". Then run the
command that causes the error and you should see a *Backtrace* buffer
containing debug information; send us that buffer.
Note that comments, suggestions, words of praise and large cash
donations are also more than welcome.
Mailing Lists
=============
There is a mailing list for discussions and announcements relating to
ESS. Join the list by sending an e-mail with "subscribe ess-help" (or
"help") in the body to <ess-help-request@stat.math.ethz.ch>;
contributions to the list may be mailed to
<ess-help@stat.math.ethz.ch>. Rest assured, this is a fairly
low-volume mailing list.
The purposes of the mailing list include
* helping users of ESS to get along with it.
* discussing aspects of using ESS on Emacs and XEmacs.
* suggestions for improvements.
* announcements of new releases of ESS.
* posting small patches to ESS.
Authors
=======
* A.J. Rossini (mailto:rossini@u.washington.edu)
* Richard M. Heiberger (mailto:rmh@temple.edu)
* Kurt Hornik (mailto:hornik@ci.tuwien.ac.at)
* Martin Maechler (mailto:maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch)
* Rodney A. Sparapani (mailto:rsparapa@mcw.edu)
* Stephen Eglen (mailto:stephen@gnu.org)