[R] R Documentation(s)

[Peter Dalgaard BSA]

Kjetil Kjernsmo <kjetil.kjernsmo at astro.uio.no> writes:

> >What exactly do you mean?  Do you mean R should be GUI (Graphical User Interface)?
> 
> Not at all! On the contrary (almost). If you show in the compendium how
> easy it is to read your data from file, perform an lm() on command line,
> they will realize that using lots and lots of drop down menus are simply
> not rational. However, you have to guide them through everything, step by
> step. (That being said, there are times where a GUI is not a bad thing,
> take GIMP for example).

Actually, I think there are valid reasons for people to want GUI
interfaces to statistics. One argument that I hear frequently is that
nonstatisticians tend to do other things than analyse data for
extended periods of time, and it becomes difficult to remember the
formalities from one time to the next. So they get scared of the
prospect of staring empty-minded at the R prompt. Also, some people
have small needs and it may be better to have a simple-minded
interface for the simplest things. E.g. for chi-square on a given
table, it will be easier to pop up a table editor where you fill in
the number of rows and columns and then fill counts into a grid than
it is to type chisq.test(matrix(c(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9),3)).

As long as you can turn the GUI *off* and use R as usual, I see no
reason not to have some form of GUI. (..said the man who has been
looking at Tcl/Tk integration issues since Easter.) In particular,
there are good things to be said about the type of GUI that generates
the function calls and displays them to the user.

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907
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