From maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch  Sat Sep 16 15:05:59 2006
From: maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch (Martin Maechler)
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 15:05:59 +0200
Subject: [Rd] Ice cream flavor metaphor in statistical computing
In-Reply-To: <x264fo7oxc.fsf@turmalin.kubism.ku.dk>
References: <450B15AE.8080601@vanderbilt.edu>
	<1158355686.7213.9.camel@localhost.localdomain>
	<x264fo7oxc.fsf@turmalin.kubism.ku.dk>
Message-ID: <17675.63159.48248.542763@stat.math.ethz.ch>

>>>>> "PD" == Peter Dalgaard <p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk>
>>>>>     on 16 Sep 2006 00:19:59 +0200 writes:

    PD> "Marc Schwartz (via MN)" <mschwartz at mn.rr.com> writes:
    >> On Fri, 2006-09-15 at 16:05 -0500, Jeffrey Horner wrote:
    >> > Forgive me, but since it's Friday and I've been thinking about command 
    >> > line options lately, I thought I'd find out who came up with the name of 
    >> > the --vanilla argument for R. From the svn log:
    >> > 
    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >> > r2509 | maechler | 1998-10-10 10:52:53 -0500 (Sat, 10 Oct 1998) | 2 lines
    >> > Changed paths:
    >> >     M /trunk/src/unix/system.c
    >> > 
    >> > new --vanilla
    >> > 
    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >> > 
    >> > Are there any interesting anecdotes about this... Did Martin Maechler 
    >> > name it? Certainly --plain could have been used instead...

Sorry to come in a bit late...  have been enjoying Mozart this morning..
I had previously seen the use of 'vanilla' as such a command
line argument for xemacs, and even though I've been preferring
GNU emacs, and Mango or Citrus, Apricot, ... to Vanilla, I still
found it cute enough to be remembered and then used for R.

Martin

    >> > Jeff
    >> 
    >> Hey Jeff,
    >> 
    >> I suppose that we should be glad that Martin was not eating Ben and
    >> Jerry's at the time or the command line might be:
    >> 
    >> R --NewYorkSuperFudgeChunk?
    >> 
    >> ;-)
    >> 
    >> This reference might be of help:
    >> 
    >> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=plain-vanilla

    PD> It is unclear from my records of R-core mails at the time what the
    PD> decision process, if any, might have been, but terms like "vanilla S"
    PD> (AT&T S as opposed to S-PLUS) were being bandied about. The option
    PD> --vanilla was preceded by constructions like

    PD> ../bin/R --no-init-file --no-save --no-restore < simple-true.R > simple-true.Rout

    PD> which was indeed a bit long-winded.

    PD> -- 
    PD> O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             ?ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
    PD> c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
    PD> (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark          Ph:  (+45) 35327918
    PD> ~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)                  FAX: (+45) 35327907

    PD> ______________________________________________
    PD> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
    PD> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel



    PD> "Marc Schwartz (via MN)" <mschwartz at mn.rr.com> writes:
    >> On Fri, 2006-09-15 at 16:05 -0500, Jeffrey Horner wrote:
    >> > Forgive me, but since it's Friday and I've been
    >> thinking about command > line options lately, I thought
    >> I'd find out who came up with the name of > the --vanilla
    >> argument for R. From the svn log:
    >> > 
    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >> > r2509 | maechler | 1998-10-10 10:52:53 -0500 (Sat, 10
    >> Oct 1998) | 2 lines > Changed paths: > M
    >> /trunk/src/unix/system.c
    >> > 
    >> > new --vanilla
    >> > 
    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    >> > 
    >> > Are there any interesting anecdotes about this... Did
    >> Martin Maechler > name it? Certainly --plain could have
    >> been used instead...
    >> > 
    >> > Jeff
    >> 
    >> Hey Jeff,
    >> 
    >> I suppose that we should be glad that Martin was not
    >> eating Ben and Jerry's at the time or the command line
    >> might be:
    >> 
    >> R --NewYorkSuperFudgeChunk?
    >> 
    >> ;-)
    >> 
    >> This reference might be of help:
    >> 
    >> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=plain-vanilla

    PD> It is unclear from my records of R-core mails at the
    PD> time what the decision process, if any, might have been,
    PD> but terms like "vanilla S" (AT&T S as opposed to S-PLUS)
    PD> were being bandied about. The option --vanilla was
    PD> preceded by constructions like

    PD> ../bin/R --no-init-file --no-save --no-restore <
    PD> simple-true.R > simple-true.Rout

    PD> which was indeed a bit long-winded.

    PD> -- O__ ---- Peter Dalgaard ?ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
    PD> c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics PO Box 2099, 1014
    PD> Cph. K (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph:
    PD> (+45) 35327918 ~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)
    PD> FAX: (+45) 35327907

    PD> ______________________________________________
    PD> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
    PD> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel




[Rd] Ice cream flavor metaphor in statistical computing
Martin Maechler