[R] Best IDE for R

[Lee Hachadoorian]

On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:31:30 +0530, Santosh Srinivas wrote:

> I am looking for suggestions for the "best" IDE for R. Best is obviously
> subjective but I need just the basic features that should function well (and
> I looked through the threads already).
> - Proper integration with R 2.11.1
> - Good key shortcuts ... similar to the R Gui
> - Manageability of Projects, etc.
> - Neat formatting features
> 
> I tried Revolution R but it seems huge in size for something my basic needs
> and keep throwing up configuration problems.
> I tried Komodo. It works fine but having problems with "proper" integration
> into R and unable to do debugging.

Hi Santosh,

I guess the main choice would be do you want something to
supercharge your text editor so that it works well with R, or do you want
something "bigger".

For an R-enabled text editor, I would suggest Tinn-R for Windows or RGedit
(a gedit plugin) for Linux/Gnome-desktop. Since both are just text
editors, they will work with whatever version R you have installed
(criteria 1).

RGedit is pretty spare: basically just console integration and keyboard
shortcuts to send code (current line, selection, defined blocks) to the
console. Criteria 1 Y 2 basic 3 N 4 N

Tinn-R is much richer. It has function reference pane (double click to
insert the function with argument placeholders. It also let's you define R
hotkeys, so you can configure the keyboard shortcuts however you want. The
main problem is that when hotkeys are enabled, Tinn-R intercepts key
presses even when another application window is active. Another thing I didn't
like about R is that the console is not integrated into the IDE. It also
let's you define project files (criteria 3). Criteria 1 Y 2 Y (except for
key intercept issue) 3 Y 4 Y

For something with more features but still easier to approach than
Revolution R, I like RKWard. It's KDE only, but I got so used to using it
on Ubuntu that I now run it on a VM on my Windows machine. (An attempt to
run it on KDE Windows was unsuccessful.) The workspace panel shows you all
objects and loaded packages. It has an itegrated console and integrated R
documentation. It will save a "workplace layout" with your R workspace so
that when you load the workspace your script files, documentation windows,
object views, will all be restored. Of course, if you're not on Linux, you
might not want to go to the trouble of running a VM. Criteria 1 Y 2 Y 3 Y
4 Y

Hope this helps,
--Lee

-- 
Lee Hachadoorian
PhD Student, Geography
Program in Earth & Environmental Sciences
CUNY Graduate Center