[R-gui] RBackend (GUI to R communication)

[Zed A. Shaw]

Hi,

I got into this conversation early as I've had lots of problems with my  
old e-mail address.  I'm now back on and thought I'd tell everyone  
about the RBackend I'm writing for the Obversive project  
(http://obversive.sourceforge.net).

The RBackend is basically a CORBA based server that embeds the R  
interpreter and provides a completely CORBA based way of interfacing  
with it that is the minimum necessary to get R to process code.  The  
main advantage of it is the simplicity and that the interface provides  
a sanitizing interface for working with R which keeps R from messing  
with your program.  By keeping the interface very small and controlled,  
it's easier to port the backend to our target platforms.  I also found  
that this is the best way to keep the viral R code from mucking up the  
Obversive process.  So far, I'm not too impressed with R's C interface  
as it assumes it is in total control and takes over your program.

I currently have the RBackend processing R code, and I'm just now  
struggling with getting the variables and passing them back and forth.   
I'm also contemplating writing a little parser that will give much  
better error messages on errors in the R code.  If you're interested in  
the IDL so far, check out:

http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/obversive/obversive/src/ 
backend/Attic/RBackend.idl?rev=1.1.2.2&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs- 
markup

Let me know what you think.

-----
Zed A. Shaw
http://www.zedshaw.com/