[R] Setting .Rprofile for RStudio on a Windows 7 x64bit

[Rolf Turner]

On 17/04/17 08:46, John C Frain wrote:

> Bruce
>
> The official documentation for these startup files can be obtained with
> the command
>
> Help(Startup)


Minor point of order, Mr. Chairman.  That should be:

     help(Startup)

There is (as far as I know) no such function as "Help()".  It is 
important to remember that R is case sensitive.

Another point that is worthy of thought is "How in God's name would any 
beginner know or find out about the usage help(Startup)?"  Unless they 
were explicitly told about it, in the manner which you just 
demonstrated.  The usage gets a mention in "An Introduction to R" --- 
but I had to search for it.

To me the word "startup" is not terribly intuitive.  I would tend to 
search for "starting" rather than "startup", I think, but I'm not sure 
what the average beginner would search for.  A search of "An 
Introduction to R" for "starting" gets seven or eight hits, one of which 
is relevant.  So it all takes patience and persistence.

Also note that "An Introduction to R" mostly uses the word "startup" 
(lower case "s") and only uses "Startup" twice.  Note also that

     help(startup)

fails.  You have to get that initial "S" right.

This isn't a criticism of the documentation.  I'm just pointing out that 
there are problems, mostly insoluble.  Until some clever Johnny gets on 
with developing that mind_read() function referred to in fortune(182).

cheers,

Rolf Turner

-- 
Technical Editor ANZJS
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University of Auckland
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