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

[A.J. Rossini]

I'm NOT glad it's a well known issue.  It ought to have been solved.
I believe it first came up around 5.1.2x or so (and so, R 1.7.x, I
think).  

I'm not sure why it is so slow under Windows.  Unfortunately, I do not
have access to any machines running Windows (at least not for which I
can actually install software, right now -- which is one recent change
:-).

I believe it's faster under XEmacs, that might be worth a check; if it
isn't, then it's an R * Windows * Emacs interaction.

best,
-tony


David Heffernan <david at heffs.org.uk> writes:

> 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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-- 
Anthony Rossini			    Research Associate Professor
rossini at u.washington.edu            http://www.analytics.washington.edu/ 
Biomedical and Health Informatics   University of Washington
Biostatistics, SCHARP/HVTN          Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
UW (Tu/Th/F): 206-616-7630 FAX=206-543-3461 | Voicemail is unreliable
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