1 General Information: README
*****************************
This is the README file for the distribution of ESS version
5.3.4
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 3/4/5/6/7, and R), SAS, XLispStat, Stata and BUGS.
Installation help can be found in sections for both Unix and Windows.
For INSTALLATION, see way below.
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@blindglobe.net>) did the initial port to XEmacs and has been
the primary coder. Martin Maechler (<maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch>) and
Kurt Hornik (<Kurt.Hornik@R-project.org>) 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).
1.1 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.
1.2 Starting an ESS process
===========================
To start an S session on Unix or on Windows when you use the Cygwin
bash shell, simply type `M-x S RET'.
To start an S session on Windows when you use the MSDOS prompt
shell, simply type `M-x S+6-msdos RET'.
1.3 New Features
================
Changes/New Features in 5.3.3:
* ESS[S] fix buglet (5.3.2 only) which left command prompt in
"execute buffer" and hence help files.
* new customizable variable `ess-display-buffer-reuse-frames' set to
true (which changes default behavior) such that execution or help
*frames* are reused.
Changes/New Features in 5.3.2:
* Classic BUGS now supported by `(require 'essd-bugs)' with ESS[BUGS]
and JAGS by `(require 'essd-jags)' with ESS[JAGS]. But,
only one of them can be used at a time since they don't play
nice together. Also, `C-c C-c' is now bound to the function
`ess-bugs-next-action' (`F12' has been retired). And
finally, note that `essl-bug.el' is deprecated and the
replacement is `essl-bugs.el'.
* ESS[R] Improved some of the "Sweave-make" functions (yet scarcely
documented) in `ess-swv.el'.
* ESS[S] No longer mess with .Last.value (nor in other "languages").
Changes/New Features in 5.3.1:
* See the docs for 2 ways to install ESS for XEmacs
1. by uncommenting the XEmacs part of Section 1 of
`Makeconf' and performing `make install'
2. by unpacking either `ess-5.3.1.tgz' or
`ess-5.3.1.zip' into
`PREFIX/lib/xemacs/site-packages' on unix or
`PREFIX\XEmacs\site-packages' on windows
* ESS[R]: fixed bugs so that Rterm.exe can be found by XEmacs
* ESS[S]: `ess-toggle-S-assign-key' is slightly changed; in
particular, the default `ess-assign-key' is now `C-x ='.
* ESS[R]: `M-x R-site-search' is a new (slightly experimental)
utility similar to R's `RSiteSearch(..)' but with the advantage of
using Emacs' preferred browser, see `browse-url-browser-function'
Changes/New Features in 5.3.0:
* ESS[BUGS]: sanely re-format statistical output, `.bog', from
scientific notation to numbers rounded with 4 decimal places with
`M-x ess-bugs-sci-round-to-4-dp'.
* The keys for navigating among section headings in help buffers
worked, but only for one language per session; they should now
work for multiple languages. (They were also broken on Windows
machines.)
* ESS[S] long standing buglets in the internal logic for loading
lisp code on Windows. Particularly fixed behavior in help mode
with S-plus GUI.
* New variable, `ess-use-inferior-program-name-in-buffer-name',
which enables using the executable name instead of the dialect
name for R. Feature request.
* ESS[S] `ess-execute-screen-options' now also works correctly when
there is more than one window *side-by-side* in the same frame and
runs in the correct buffer also when there is more than one S
buffer.
* iESS[S] new functions `ess-eval-paragraph-and-step' and
`ess-eval-function-or-paragraph-and-step' are bound to keys `C-c
C-p' and `C-c C-c' respectively and to the menu in ESS-mode; also
bound in the help mode (for evaluating examples).
* ESS[S] new function `ess-toggle-S-assign-key' allows to assign the
" <- " insertion to an arbitrary key.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.12:
* ESS[SAS]: `M-;' fixed, but the XEmacs function `comment-dwim' may
be broken, if so, use `M-x comment-region' and `M-x
uncomment-region' instead; only valid PROCs are fontified which is
very helpful finding syntax errors (currently supported: BASE,
ETS, FSP, GRAPH, IML, INSIGHT and STAT); the "feature" where
`F'-keys take you to an empty buffer when the requested
destination is a file that does not exist has been fixed, now the
request results in a no-op. Further, sas-mode now also works in
simple terminals.
* Rterm/Cygwin combination works under Microsoft Windows.
* ESS[R]: internal calls use baseenv() instead of NULL and define
'baseenv' where needed.
* New experimental support for installing ESS. See the file
`lisp/ess-install.el'.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.11:
* ESS Info entry and `dir' handled more effectively for GNU Emacs
users
* ESS[SAS]: temporary files created for batch submission of a region
are now named based on the current file; see `ess-sas-file-root'
for details; all `lag' and `dif' functions now fontified correctly
* iESS[SAS]: fixed a few nagging bugs, however, still does not
appear to work at this time; please let us know if you have any
ideas.
* ESS[S]: Support for running other versions of Splus has been added
for unix. Two new variables, `ess-s-versions' and
`ess-s-versions-list', are used to tell ESS what other versions of
Splus you would like to run.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.10:
* ESS[R]: ess-r-versions can no longer be customized (since the
customization was not taking effect unless customizations were
loaded before ESS). Its value has been changed so that it will
also find R executables beginning "R-devel" and "R-patched". If
you wish to change this variable, it must be set in your `.emacs'
before ESS is loaded.
* Installation with GNU Make enhanced: unix and unix-like operating
systems will now be able to install ESS for all users in either a
GNU Emacs site-lisp or an XEmacs package configuration by editing
`lisp/ess-site.el' and `Makeconf' accordingly, then issuing `make
install'
* ESS[S]: Filename completion (inside strings) now also works in
XEmacs for R and S-plus.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.9:
* ESS[R] for Windows: the \ directory character bug with respect to
ess-load-file has been eradicated.
* iESS[SAS]: `C-c C-r' and `C-c C-b' once again work as intended and
documented.
* ESS[S]: M-x ess-fix-EQ-assign is a bit more agressive.
* ESS[S]: Imenu now also shows setAs(), etc.
* ESS[R]: R function pattern enhanced with underlying code such that
`M-C-a' (`ess-beginning-of-function') etc now work for many more
cases, including S4 method definitions.
* iESS[R]: myOwnhelp(1) no longer wrongly triggers help(1).
* ESS[R]: Improved detection of bogus help buffers: valid help
buffers containing with the string "no documentation"(e.g. contour)
were being treated as bogus.
* ESS[R]: In R help buffers, if `options("help.try.all.packages" =
TRUE)' then `?rlm' will list which packages rlm is defined in.
This help buffer is not bogus, but instead is now relabelled
"*help[R](rlm in packages)*".
* ESS[STA]: add "//" as comment starting character to syntax-table.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.8:
* iESS: [Tab] completes *file* names "inside string" as in earlier
(<= 5.2.3) ESS versions.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.7:
* If you use Custom to change the variable ess-toolbar-items, the
new toolbar is used in all subsequent ESS buffers.
* ESS[SAS]: new feature: if ess-sas-log-max >0 and your .log grows
to more than ess-sas-log-max bytes, just the first ess-sas-log-max
bytes are refreshed; this is helpful when your .sas program
generates lots of error messages and gets too big for emacs to
display
* ESS[R/S]: `M-;' in R/S editing modes will now indent with either
one or two hashes depending on context.
* ESS[R]: David Whiting's Sweave extensions (to 'noweb') are now
available (from ess-swv.el loaded by default).
Changes/New Features in 5.2.6:
* Removed non-ASCII characters in a few files.
* ESS[R]: now works better when UTF-8 locale is active; in
particular, you get correct directional quotes in R's startup
message for R-devel (unstable development version of R 2.1.0)
when using environment variables LANGUAGE=en@quot
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
* ESS[SAS]: toggling of .log mode improved (`F10'); toggling of .lst
mode now also available (`C-F10'); killing all buffers associated
with .sas program no longer bound to `C-F10' since its a bit
overzealous.
* S-Plus 7 for Windows is now recognized.
* ESS[S] (incl. R): in auto-fill mode, strings are not wrapped
anymore.
* ESS[S] (incl. R): font-lock now correctly differs between R and S,
e.g., for "_"; both now fontify warning(.) and S does terminate()
additionally.
* Support for `bell' aka `beep' aka `ding' aka `alarm' in all
inferior modes: When \a is output "to the the console" at the
beginning of a line, the bell is rung.
Changes/New Features in 5.2.5:
* ESS[R]: `C-c C-q' or `Quit S' from the menu now should work (again
and less klunkily) and do not append `-exited' to the buffer name.
Further, the behavior of `(ess-cleanup)', called from ess-quit,
now depends on the new customizable variable
`ess-S-quit-kill-buffers-p' which defaults to `nil'.
Consequently, the question _"Delete all buffers associated with
..?"_ will not be asked anymore by default.
* ESS[SAS] - ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace will now work
with the `recode' application as well which is available on many
platforms
* ESS[S] (incl. R): Name completion for slots of S4 objects now
works!
Changes/New Features in 5.2.4:
* The documentation now includes an overview of how to use the emacs
TAGS facility for S functions. (The distribution also used to
contain a directory `etc/other/Tags' where a ~1990 version of
`etags.c' was distributed; this is no longer relevant and so has
been deleted.)
* ESS[SAS] - When you are working with EBCDIC files on an ASCII
platform, .log NOTEs may display as gibberish since the EBCDIC
characters are not converted to ASCII prior to their display. So,
the function ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace is provided for
convenience and is bound to `C-F11'. This function requires the
`dd' command (only available on unix or unix-like platforms).
* ESS: Completion of object names is now always done dynamically
rather than allowing the option of using a pre-computed database
(by `ess-create-object-name-db') since modern computers seem fast
enough for dynamic completion. (We expect few users, if any, have
been using the pre-computed database method.)
* ESS: object completion in iESS buffers running on Windows was very
slow (for GNU Emacs, but not XEmacs) and has now been fixed.
Further, it was more or less broken for all versions of S-plus 6.x,
and has been fixed to work everywhere but with the Windows' GUI of
S-plus. The list of objects now shows unique names also when an
object appears more than once in the search path.
* ESS[R]: Completion of object names now also includes those
starting with ".".
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; "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-toggle-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://ess.r-project.org/) 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.
1.4 Current Features
====================
* Languages Supported:
* S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x, and R)
* SAS
* BUGS/JAGS
* Stata
* XLispStat including Arc and ViSta
* Editing source code (S family, SAS, BUGS/JAGS, 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/JAGS)
* 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
1.5 Stability
=============
Versions 5.3.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!
1.6 Requirements
================
ESS has been tested with
* R >=0.49
* S-PLUS 3.3-4, 4.5, 2000, 5.0-1, 6.0-2, 7.0, 8.0
* S4
* SAS >=6.12
* BUGS 0.5, 0.6
* JAGS 0.9
* Stata >=6.0
* XLispStat >=3.50
on the following platforms
* GNU Linux (all)
* Sun Solaris (all)
* Microsoft Windows 98/NT/2000/XP (R, SPLUS 4.5/2000/6.0-2/7.0/8.0,
SAS, and BUGS 0.6)
* Apple Mac OS X 10.3-4 (R, JAGS)
with the following versions of emacs
* GNU Emacs 20.3-7, 21.1, 21.3-4, 22.0.50-pretesting
* XEmacs 21.4.0-8, 21.4.9-13(1), 21.4.14-15, 21.4.17-19, 21.5.23
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) require the files.el patch to revert-buffer for the Local
Variables updating problem
1.7 Getting the Latest Version
==============================
The latest released 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.
1.8 Installation (from tar file)
================================
1.9 Unix installation
=====================
1. `cd' to a directory where you keep emacs lisp files, or create a
new directory (for example, `$HOME/emacs') to hold the
distribution. This directory will be referred to below as "the
ESS distribution directory".
_Note for XEmacs packages:_ ESS is no longer available as an
XEmacs package. But, you can still install ESS into the XEmacs
package system by choosing
`ESSDIR'=`PREFIX/lib/xemacs/site-packages'. ESS requires that the
XEmacs sumo tarball (all XEmacs packages combined) also be
installed. For information on installing XEmacs packages, follow
this link: Quickstart Package Guide
(http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packageGuide.html).
2. Retrieve the latest version from ESS downloads area
(http://ess.r-project.org/downloads/ess) to `ESSDIR'.
3. Extract the files from the disribution.
If you are using GNU tar, `tar zxf ess-VERSION.tgz'.
Otherwise, `gunzip < ess-VERSION.tgz | tar xf -',
The `tar' command will create the subdirectory `ess-VERSION' and
install the files there.
4. Edit the file `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site.el' as explained
in the comments section of that file.
5. If you are using GNU Emacs add the line
(load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
to `$HOME/.emacs'. For XEmacs, if you followed the XEmacs package
system installation advice, add the line
(require 'ess-site)
to `$HOME/.xemacs/init.el'. Otherwise, for XEmacs, add the line
(load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
to `$HOME/.xemacs/init.el'.
6. That's it! ESS is now ready to use. (The remaining step below is
only for a custom installation.) To edit statistical programs,
just open files with the requisite extensions (`.R' for R, `.sas'
for SAS, `.bug' for BUGS, etc.). To start a statistical process
within emacs, such as R, type `M-x R'.
7. (OPTIONAL) READ THIS ITEM THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING:
If you want to place the compiled files in other locations edit the
`LISPDIR', `INFODIR' and `ETCDIR' entries in Section 1 of
`Makeconf' in the `ESSDIR/ess-VERSION' directory (if you are using
XEmacs, then uncomment the XEmacs subsection in Section 1).
You can compile those files by:
make all
When that completes successfully, install the compiled files:
make install
1.10 Microsoft Windows installation
===================================
For Microsoft Windows installation, please follow the next steps.
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".
_Note for XEmacs packages:_ ESS is no longer available as an XEmacs
package. But, you can still install ESS into the XEmacs package
system by choosing `ESSDIR'=`PREFIX\XEmacs\site-packages'. ESS
requires that the XEmacs sumo tarball (all XEmacs packages
combined) also be installed. For information on installing XEmacs
packages, follow this link: Quickstart Package Guide
(http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packageGuide.html).
2. Retrieve the latest zip file (`ess-VERSION.zip') from ESS
downloads area (http://ess.r-project.org/downloads/ess) and store
it in the ESS distribution directory. 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. Extract all the files from `ess-VERSION.zip' into the ESS
distribution directory as `c:\emacs\ess-VERSION\'. (It is possible
to unpack the zip archive in Windows Explorer by double clicking
on the folder; you should then see a new folder called
`ess-VERSION'. Drag that folder into your ESS distribution
directory.)
4. If you are using GNU Emacs add the line
(load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
to `%HOME%/.emacs'. For XEmacs, if you followed the XEmacs
package system installation advice, add the line
(require 'ess-site)
to `%HOME%/.xemacs/init.el'. Otherwise, for XEmacs, add the line
(load "ESSDIR/ess-VERSION/lisp/ess-site")
to `%HOME%/.xemacs/init.el'. _Note:_ Both GNU Emacs and XEmacs
require that the HOME environment variable be set on your system,
otherwise, your initialization file will not be utilized, and
therefore, ESS will not work.
After saving your initialization file, ESS is now installed.
Start a new emacs and you should be ready to use ESS. For
example, 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). One
further step is needed if you wish to run statistical processes,
see below.
5. To run statistical processes under ESS, 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\insightful\splus70\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
"`\'".
An alternative, for R users, is that rather than adjusting the PATH
variable, you can add the following to your emacs initialization
file (and restart emacs):
(setq inferior-R-program-name "C:/progra~1/R/R-2.2.1/bin/Rterm.exe")
This assumes that you have installed R-2.2.1 in the default
location. Change the path otherwise to point to other locations.
Windows users who place S-PLUS anywhere other than the default
location will also need to add the following three lines (properly
adjusted for their location) to their `%HOME%/.emacs' or
`%HOME%/.xemacs/init.el' file:
(setq-default inferior-S+6-program-name
"c:/progra~1/Insightful/SPLUS70/cmd/Splus")
(setq-default inferior-Sqpe+6-SHOME-name
"c:/progra~1/Insightful/SPLUS70")
(setq-default inferior-Sqpe+6-program-name
"c:/progra~1/Insightful/SPLUS70/cmd/Sqpe.exe")
The above example uses the default location of S-PLUS in
`c:/progra~1/Insightful'. Please note that ESS considers S-PLUS
6, 7, and 8 to be variants of S+6.
These users may also need to modify the emacs variable
`ess-SHOME-versions' to match their installation in order to get
the full set of S-PLUS versions on their machine into the `ESS'
menu.
To start the S-PLUS [678].x GUI from ESS under emacs:
1. If you use Cygwin bash as your primary shell, then
M-x S
(or `M-x S+6').
2. If you use the MSDOS prompt window as your primary shell, then
M-x S+6-msdos
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' or
`M-x S+4-msdos'.)
To start an S-PLUS [678].x session inside an emacs buffer--and
without the S-PLUS GUI:
M-x Sqpe
(or `M-x Sqpe+6').
This works with both the bash and msdos shells. 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
or
M-x S+6-msdos-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' or
`M-x S+4-msdos-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.
6. That's it!
1.11 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.
1.12 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.
1.13 Authors
============
* A.J. Rossini (mailto:blindglobe@gmail.com)
* Richard M. Heiberger (mailto:rmh@temple.edu)
* Kurt Hornik (mailto:Kurt.Hornik@R-project.org)
* Martin Maechler (mailto:maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch)
* Rodney A. Sparapani (mailto:rsparapa@mcw.edu)
* Stephen Eglen (mailto:stephen@gnu.org)