[R-sig-Debian] "Graphics history" in UNIX --> "R" in Ubuntu for students in applied sciences

[denis brion]

--- En date de : Dim 11.7.10, Scotti Roberto <roberto.scotti at gmail.com> a écrit :

> De: Scotti Roberto <roberto.scotti at gmail.com>
> Objet: Re: [R-sig-Debian] "Graphics history" in UNIX --> "R" in Ubuntu for students in applied sciences
> À: "Dirk Eddelbuettel" <edd at debian.org>
> Cc: "R-SIG-DEBIAN" <r-sig-debian at r-project.org>, "Iacopo Bernetti" <iacopo.bernetti at unifi.it>
> Date: Dimanche 11 juillet 2010, 12h44
> Many thank to everyone.
> I really appreciate your kindness in making the point (or
> your point) on the topics that come up.
> I am afraid that we completely abandoned the topic in the
> original subject line and shifted to a topic that is of
> great importance for me: <"R" in Ubuntu for students in
> applied sciences>.
> 
> For me the root question is related to Paul Johnson
> opinion.
> > 09/07/2010 00:36, Paul Johnson:
> > > "Personally, my opinion is if you want somebody
> else to do your work for you, you should have stayed with
> Windows." <<
> To some extent it is necessarily true: choosing OpenSource
> software you take up the burden of taking care for yourself,
> if you prefer hanging over that burden to somebody else,
> you'd better pay him for the service!
> On the other hand, I suppose we can agree that a tool for
> applied statistics as "R", is really useful if a
> non-statics-expert like a forestry student can use it having
> only basic knowledge of computers and informatics (and,
> obviously, something more than just basics in statistics).
> 
> What is the ideal compromise between these bounds?
> 
> A -        On 10 July 2010 at 11:54,
> Ross Boylan:
> "The point of most distributions is to provide pre-compiled
> binary packages; particularly on Debian these are very good
> about indicating what other packages they require.  If
> you use a tool like aptitude and tell it you want package X,
> it will automatically pull in all other required
> packages.  Ubuntu is a Debian derivative."
> 
> B -        Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2010
> 18:37:38 +0100, Michael Dewey:
> "My experience as a very naive Linux user with mostly
> Windows experience is that once you have the initial setup
> right subsequent installation of packages from source works
> very smoothly. I was quite nervous about the initial setup
> but the instructions on the welcome pages on CRAN were very
> helpful. I think when you look back in a few months time you
> will, like me, wonder why you were concerned in the first
> place."
> 
> I am very tempted to vote (B) but I am aware of my personal
> bias in favor of very general (though risky!) solutions.
> I imagine that a common understanding on this point can
> help focus  R-for-debian development.
> Sincerely, Roberto.
> 
I do not think the solution B is very risky because :

* R's package building is one of the easiest in the GNU(linux : works under BSD and sometimes AIX, too) world. When I try a new distribution, the first thing I try is to build R from sources; if something is misssing, I try to build it, too ; after it, more complicated softwares can be tried (octave, scilab).

* If it is intended for students, may be they will be happy to know how to install from sources (having a Debian on their linux (if any) computers is not compulsory, is not it? )

* knowing how to make a package and how to document it may be interesting (I wrote professional packages for R{my boss wont GPL them!} , and writing documentation is very easy).

* There are about 1500 functions in R (without libraries); knowing 2 more functions | bash lines is not that tremendous; getting an idea of dependencies and how they are managed is useful if one wants to install/use  any GNU (and even Windows...) software .

* Most linux distribution (not weighted by  audience, I agree) do not have R supplied, nor its dependencies.... Others (I think of Centos and Mandriva) might have late versions of R, and one depends on the distribution's skills and avalaible time... instead of writing 2 bash lines/calling one R function!!!