[R] Best R text editors?

[(Ted Harding)]

On 11-Sep-09 10:41:21, Jim Lemon wrote:
> On 09/11/2009 05:15 PM, Patrick Connolly wrote:
>> ...
>> |>  and in previous versions, you could always do M-x cua-mode for
>> |>  the same effect. Talk about a well-hidden function mostly directed
>> |>  at beginners ...
>>
>> Perhaps the thinking was that by the time they find it, they'll
>> already have noticed that they can cut/copy and paste using only the
>> mouse buttons and won't be bothered with such inefficient methods.
>>
>> Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't. :-)
>>    
> Well, okay, let's look at it from the viewpoint of learning theory. We 
> expect that if someone has learned a skill, they will prefer to engage 
> in other behaviors where they can successfully use that skill. Upon
> this 
> easily understood foundation rest the fortunes of many. Thus two of 
> those entities, let us call them A and M for the purposes of
> discussion, 
> spend a great deal of time and effort attempting to differentiate their
> interfaces from each other so that having trained their users, those 
> users will be reluctant to switch to the competitor. However, they must
> remain similar enough so that the switch from the competitor is not 
> impossible. Such is the dispiriting triumph of form over substance in 
> interface design. Both have yet to abandon such atavists as myself who 
> prefer to type rather than fiddle with a pointing device, though they 
> try hard to convert us. A somewhat smaller organization that I will 
> label G seems to have decided that it can build a user base by sticking
> to the arcane typoglyphics of the VT-100 era and enticing the largely 
> amoral digirati with moral suasion. Now that's madness.
> 
> Jim

Once again, I cannot resist citing the immortal quote (from Charles
Curran, of the UK Unix Users Group):

  "I can touch-type, but I can't touch-mouse"

Originally posted on Wed Nov 17 13:48:14 2004, in the context of an
extended discussion (still relevant to the present thread):

  http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/R/Rhelp02/archive/41560.html

Best wishes to all,
Ted.

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Date: 11-Sep-09                                       Time: 11:53:09
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