From r at mikl.dk  Mon Oct 12 04:47:20 2009
From: r at mikl.dk (Mikkel Meyer Andersen)
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:47:20 +1100
Subject: [Rd] R on Google Android
In-Reply-To: <7B9034F9-2495-43ED-93B3-A9DC09BEB96E@r-project.org>
References: <3796c6d50910110338u2850b2e6o60fbc2563a8656d6@mail.gmail.com>
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Message-ID: <3796c6d50910111947q1157322scc49eaba8bb6fef2@mail.gmail.com>

Simon,

2009/10/12 Simon Urbanek <simon.urbanek at r-project.org>:
>
> On Oct 11, 2009, at 9:17 PM, Mikkel Meyer Andersen wrote:
>
>> Simon,
>>
>> Thanks for your answer.
>>
>> Do you have a link describing the procedure on compiling for iPhone or is
>> it really just ready out of the box?
>
> You can compile R itself (libR) out of the box just using regular
> cross-compilation. The only issue are packages with native libraries - the
> easiest way is to create a multi-arch R so that the non-libs parts are
> actually built on the native architecture. For anything troublesome your can
> then also use R --arch=arm CMD SHLIB. This is really more a proof of concept
> since you're still missing a command line as there is no shell or ssh or
> normal iPhones but you could hook it into any GUI ..
Thanks. That is the main goal to have the base. I don't' want a mobile
version to be a substitute for normal desktop usage, but merely just
for quick tasks as finding quantiles, eigenvalues, multiplying
matrices or whatever when no desktop computer is nearby.

I've found a few other links that seem interesting, so I'll give it a
try and inform you if I succeed.

Cheers, Mikkel.
>
> Of course as my old post on R-SIG-Mac on the topic says we don't have plans
> to use UIKit, but that's probably not that relevant for you anyway.
>
> Cheers,
> Simon
>
>
>> A description would help me
>> trying to do it with Android. I've done some searching, but the only
>> relevant hit I've found is
>> http://ephphatharesearch.com/Eph_Blog_Post.aspx/Show/41.
>>
>> Cheers, Mikkel.
>>
>> 2009/10/12 Simon Urbanek <simon.urbanek at r-project.org>:
>>>
>>> Mikkel,
>>>
>>> On Oct 11, 2009, at 6:38 AM, Mikkel Meyer Andersen wrote:
>>>
>>>> As a follow-up on [1], I'd like to raise the question of whether it's
>>>> practically possible to compile R to the Google Android mobile
>>>> platform?
>>>>
>>>> The best way would probably be to use the Native Developer Kit [2],
>>>> NDK, and in that way get a library. This could then be interfaced to
>>>> by a Java-program.
>>>>
>>>> I know that several questions have been raised against the idea, e.g.
>>>> with the input methods and all that, but I wouldn't be that hard to
>>>> make an alternative input method or even a new language that could be
>>>> compiled to R.
>>>>
>>>> The reason I'm raising this question again, is that I would really
>>>> want a (basic) statistical package on my mobile phone, and I think it
>>>> would be kind of stupid to start writing one from scratch when R is
>>>> already out there.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Get an iPhone ;), you can compile R for iPhone OS almost out of the box.
>>>
>>> But seriously, the NDK seems to be ARM as well (like the iPhone) so
>>> chances
>>> are that is may work in a similar fashion. According to the NDK docs it
>>> includes JNI so you should be able to use rJava/JRI to embed R (see the
>>> JGR
>>> project for an example of a GUI using the "normal" Java). [I didn't
>>> actually
>>> try it so your mileage may vary].
>>>
>>>
>>>> Unfortunately I don't know that much about build systems and are not
>>>> capable of assesing whether it indeed would be possible to port R to
>>>> Android through NDK. I know a bit of both R, Java, and C and would be
>>>> able to help trying some different approaches, if anybody wants to
>>>> help me.
>>>>
>>>> The alternative is to start writing a new mobile statistical package
>>>> from the beginning. And although it should only maybe support 5% of
>>>> the functionality of R, it would take a lot of time to do that. And
>>>> I'd love to avoid that when good people has already done an amazing
>>>> job :-).
>>>>
>>>
>>> People have proposed that and tried that long time ago, but I don't think
>>> anyone succeeded.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Simon
>>>
>>>
>>>> Cheers, Mikkel Meyer Andersen.
>>>>
>>>> [1]: http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/Rhelp08/2009-February/187425.html
>>>> [2]: http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/1.5_r1/index.html
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>



[Rd] R on Google Android
Mikkel Meyer Andersen