From rossini at blindglobe.net  Fri Feb 27 16:31:46 2004
From: rossini at blindglobe.net (A.J. Rossini)
Date: Fri Feb 27 16:29:50 2004
Subject: [Rd] Packages in R & Java
In-Reply-To: <8CBAA121CEB4D5118CB200508BB2BBEF0317EC84@xmx8lonib.lonib.commerzbank.com>
	(John Marsland's message of "Fri, 27 Feb 2004 14:13:48 -0000")
References: <8CBAA121CEB4D5118CB200508BB2BBEF0317EC84@xmx8lonib.lonib.commerzbank.com>
Message-ID: <85ad34tu71.fsf@servant.blindglobe.net>

"Marsland, John" <John.Marsland@CommerzbankIB.com> writes:

> Yes, lots of packages do use C/Fortran code ... it would be great if there
> were more packages that are "pure R" especially since the advent of S4
> classes and namespaces.

Even with those, quite often we have to move code to C/C++/Fortran for
efficiency.

> Is it worth suggesting that we create a designation "pure R" for packages
> that have no external source code and encourage more of these? Indeed, now
> the number of packages is so big could they be classified to aid potential
> users?

Not sure that would be good (encouragement).  It would compromise
solid design principles for aesthetics.  

> Going back to the original question, it strikes me that C/Fortran code is
> most often used to interface to other code - there would be a better way of
> doing this in a Java environment - or to speed up existing R code - where
> loops are usually the cause of the speed problem and the introduction Java
> bytecode would presumably be helpful anyway. Surely there could be some sort
> of process to generate automated jni bindings?

Argh.  JNI is not a saviour.  It's a royal PITA.

And C/Fortran code is probably just as often used to speed up computations.

> I don't think a Java implementation of the R parser is as bigger task as it
> seems ... much of the work to get an interpreted scripting language working
> could be taken from the Jython project?

See the Omegahat LANGUAGE for a solid start on this.  R-like syntax,
and lots more.  Does anyone still use it?

best,
-tony

-- 
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Biomedical and Health Informatics   University of Washington
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[Rd] Packages in R & Java
A.J. Rossini