[R] R.dll

[Jim_Garrett@bd.com]

I'm looking into making R functions available from a Visual Basic
application.  Venables and Ripley point out in _S Programming_ that this is
possible with automation via DCOM and by linking to R DLL(s) at compile
time.  I'm intrigued by the latter possibility, and would appreciate
information anyone might be able to provide, especially:

1.  Do I need to link to R.dll only or would I need other DLL's as well?
2.  Where does the parser fit into this?  What is involved in having an
application interact with the parser?
3.  At the moment I'm only thinking about the feasibility and the potential
benefits of this route, but if I pursue it, I'll certainly need more
specific information.  I gather that currently there is no documentation
about interacting with the DLL's directly, aside from whatever is in the
source code.  Are there any other written materials that I might find
helpful?  And would specific questions about this topic be more
appropriately addressed to the development list rather than this list?

By the way, I've used S-Plus for years and I just downloaded R a few days
ago.  Already I've made use of some features R enjoys over S-Plus.  For
example, optimizing data-dependent functions (in my case a penalized
likelihood function) is more straightforward in R than in S.  I'm very
excited and enthusiastic about this.  Many thanks to all those who have
made this possible!

Thanks very much for any information,

Jim Garrett
jim_garrett at bd.com
Becton Dickinson
Baltimore, Maryland, USA


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