From rossini@math.SC.EDU  Wed Oct 29 17:50:30 1997
From: rossini@math.SC.EDU (Anthony Rossini)
Date: 29 Oct 1997 12:50:30 -0500
Subject: R-alpha: Using autoload and smaller 'base' package [was "Re: New Version"].
In-Reply-To: Martin Maechler's message of "Wed, 29 Oct 1997 18:20:01 +0100"
References: <199710291720.SAA01035@sophie.ethz.ch>
Message-ID: <wnc3elklaqh.fsf@neuromancer.stat.sc.edu>


>>>>> "Martin" == Martin Maechler <maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch> writes:

>>>>> "Thomas" == Thomas Lumley <thomas@biostat.washington.edu> writes:

    Thomas> On 29 Oct 1997, Peter Dalgaard BSA wrote:
    >>> Perhaps we should revise the current contents of the base library
    >>> and replace some noncrucial items with autoloads? (The ts stuff for
    >>> instance, glm, maybe even lm).

    Thomas> It would be interesting to experiment along these lines.
    Thomas> Clearly if something is going to be loaded it saves time and
    Thomas> space to do it immediately, but if it isn't going to be used
    Thomas> it's better to keep it on disk.  Personally, I use glm nearly
    Thomas> every time I use R, but other people may have different needs.

    Martin> Actually, I have thought along similar lines: I think it
    Martin> is a neat concept to use autoload and more than just the
    Martin> 'eda' and 'mva' libraries.

    Martin> BTW: Is it a good idea if I include  my  
    Martin> 	stepfun / ecdf     functions into a new library  'stepfun' ?
    Martin>      ie. a library that belongs to the distribution
    Martin>      instead of being contrib?

Can we do like emacs, and have a means for "dumping" packages into R?
Even if it is just a matter of adding or removing comments in
appropriate places, this could be useful.  Just like emacs, this would
increase the initial size, but means that little time is wasted during
load.

[I assume that the discussion is with respect to replacing packages
with autoloads, and I for one would consider doing that with some of
the packages as a "Good Thing"(tm) (since I've got to the point that
I'd rather wait to have things grow as I need them, rather than let
them start huge and grow incrementally at a small pace).]

best,

-- 
-tony (Anthony Rossini)	           Statistics Dept., U South Carolina
rossini@stat.sc.edu	           Columbia, SC 29208
http://www.stat.sc.edu/~rossini/   803-777-3578(O) 803-777-4048 (fax)  
        "'Bother,' said Pooh, as Cthulhu rose up and ate him."
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R-alpha: Using autoload and smaller 'base' package [was "Re: New Version"].
Anthony Rossini