[ESS-bugs] Re: ess 5.2.2; TAB completion takes *ages* ..

[David Heffernan]

Hi,

Well I'm glad that it's a "well known" issue.  Is there any 
documentation avilable on the problem?  I can't find a "known issues" 
section on the ESS page - this might be a useful addition for people 
like me who are looking for work arounds / solutions to problems.

Finally, what can we do to solve the problem?  Have you any 
recommendations about how I would go about tracing the cause of the problem?

Cheers, David.

A.J. Rossini wrote:

>If I recall, this is actually a "well known" issue with Emacs on
>Windows (but with XEmacs on Windows having a different set of
>problems). 
>
>Not sure what to do, though.
>
>
>Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch> writes:
>
>  
>
>>This should have gone back to ESS-bugs :
>>
>>From: David Heffernan <david at heffs.org.uk>
>>Subject: Re: [ESS-bugs] ess 5.2.2; TAB completion takes *ages* ..
>>To: Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch>
>>Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 22:11:15 +0000
>>
>>Martin,
>>
>>Thanks a lot for getting back to me so quickly - it's much appreciated.
>>
>>As you suggested I installed GNU Emacs 21.3 and the problem occurs 
>>exactly as before.
>>
>>M-x ess-resynch takes an age:
>>
>>Forming completions for .GlobalEnv...... (wait 20 seconds)
>>Forming completions for Methods.....
>>etc.
>>etc.
>>
>>It takes a couple of minutes to get through all the environments / packages.
>>
>>Have you any ideas what to try next?
>>
>>Cheers, David.
>>
>>Martin Maechler wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Yes indeed, this has not been a problem on Linux with R.
>>>
>>>You indicated using Emacs 20.7 which is from the last century.
>>>I don't really believe the problem to be an Emacs 20 one, but
>>>since ``everyone else'' uses Emacs 21.3 (I use 21.2
>>>occasionally) it would definitely make debugging easier.
>>>
>>>Thanks a lot for offering to debug this problem.
>>>AFAICS, I have no ess-r-namedb.el file either (on Linux) and
>>>still things work very fast.
>>>
>>>What happens when you (go to the *R* buffer and) type
>>>M-x ess-resynch ?
>>>It takes about half a second for me (fast Linux box though)
>>>your "current state" (below) looks exactly like mine...
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Martin
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>>>>>"David" == David Heffernan <david at heffs.org.uk>
>>>>>>>>   on Wed, 18 Aug 2004 20:50:12 +0000 writes:
>>>>>>>>           
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>                
>>>>>>>>
>>>   David> Hi, I'm having problems with ESS tab completion.  The
>>>   David> problem occurs on both Windows 2000 and XP and
>>>   David> possible other Windows versions.  I'm using R version
>>>   David> 1.8.1 but I've had the problem with a various earlier
>>>   David> versions too so I don't think the R version is a
>>>   David> significant factor.
>>>
>>>   David> The first time you attempt a tab completion in ESS it
>>>   David> forms the list of available completions.  This
>>>   David> operation takes a *very* long time.  After that
>>>   David> completion works a treat for the duration of the ESS
>>>   David> session.  When you start another session it's back to
>>>   David> square one.
>>>
>>>   David> I'm aware of the ess-object-name-db game.  I followed
>>>   David> the instructions to create the ess-r-namedb.el file.
>>>   David> Then when I start ESS again the ess-object-name-db
>>>   David> variable is indeed defined (it's a local to the *R*
>>>   David> buffer).  But still the first tab completion takes an
>>>   David> age.
>>>
>>>   David> I know that there a many other users suffering with
>>>   David> the same problem (this is clear as a result of my
>>>   David> websearches to attempt to find a solution).  Do you
>>>   David> know of a solution to the problem?
>>>
>>>   David> The fact that the problem has been known for a while
>>>   David> and there has been no solution makes me wonder
>>>   David> whether the ESS developers can reproduce it.  I know
>>>   David> Linux users who don't experience this problem so that
>>>   David> seems plausible.  If this is the case then perhaps I
>>>   David> can help track it down since I can easily reproduce
>>>   David> the problem.  I work as a software developer and so
>>>   David> am experienced in tracking and debugging software
>>>   David> problems.  However, I've never debugged anything like
>>>   David> Emacs or ESS and realise that I would need some help
>>>   David> setting up a dev environment for debugging.
>>>
>>>
>>>   David> Cheers,
>>>
>>>
>>>   David> David Heffernan.
>>>
>>>
>>>   David> Emacs  : GNU Emacs 20.7.1 (i386-*-nt5.1.2600)
>>>      
>>>
>>	         ............
>>----------
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>>    
>>
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