[R-gui] Seeking comments/testers for a new GUI

[Vitalie S.]

> Regarding JGR... I'm interested to know what features you would like to  
> see
> in JGR to make it fit your needs more.
Main thing for any power user of an interactive programing  language are  
shortkeys:
  - Basic navigation keys  
(http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Moving-Point.html#Moving-Point).  
Mouse is a trap. With proper short keys for code navigation  
(words,sentences,paragraphs, code chunks (sexps)) one becomes k-folds more  
efficient.

  - Sending code from editor in different ways (line, paragraph, function,  
selection). And potentially combination of those - say if text is  
selected, then region is executed if not, one line is sent to console and  
the cursor is moved to the next one.

  - All short keys are better be customizable, like in emacs or  lyx - one  
startup file with simple description of associated commands.

> There are a couple of newer features
> which have made it suit my needs better. We recently added preference  
> items
> to change the output and command colors, as well as the editor syntax
> coloring which can now psuedo-emulate the coloring of emacs, xcode,  
> ecplise,
> vim, and visual studio. Auto-tabbing was also added, though it is  
> simplistic
> as of yet. What features would you like to see in a console?
>

JGR still lacks "previous matching input" behavior - only those lines are  
recalled that match starting string in command window.

Navigation by keys through previous output can be useful. Execution of  
previous lines from output window are of great help(probably quite a task  
for JGR since that window is not editable).

Other things like code folding and outlining in editor, point sensitive  
help are of not that much importance but could improve efficiency as well.

> Regarding other platforms... Right now the code is tied into JGR, but it
> wouldn't be too hard to port it to a different platform. JGR has the
> advantage that it is fully Java based, which make the development of  
> Deducer
> easier. I don't really know much about ess or sciviews, but in order to  
> be
> used, a platform would need 1. access to rJava 2. a way to enter commands
> into the terminal from java 3. a way to add menu items and hook them up  
> to
> java methods. For the time being I'm pretty committed to using JGR, when
> Deducer is more mature I'll think about supporting others.
>
Deducer is a great fit, no doubt about that. R lack of internal  
spreadsheet is sometimes annoying. In my view, if Deducer could replace  
R's edit() command then not only JGR users but the whole community would  
benefit enormously. Just to find a way to link it to R process. I don't  
know much about rJava or how ESS internals work but taking into  
consideration versatility of emacs that probably won't be a problem. For  
instance Rcmder works reasonably well with ESS and all other guis; Why not  
a stand alone Deducer?

Thanks again for sharing the application. A very useful start indeed.

Best,
Vitalie.