Hi Gabriel, yes, packages obviously contain all the good stuff, but need to start somewhere!
The ipython notebook project is very impressive, and I've been keeping a close eye on it, although I started out on monkeycruncher long before I was aware of it (I make slow progress). I guess I think of my thing as an experiment in just how much can be done purely in the web client. There are some advantages to pure client-side (rich interactivity, no need for a server, ubiquity) which make it interesting, but it might be a bit "too soon" to be useful! Jony -- Centre for Cold Matter, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW T: +44 (0)207 5947741 http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/jony.hudson http://www.imperial.ac.uk/ccm/research/edm http://www.monkeycruncher.org http://j-star.org/ -- On 3 May 2013, at 16:46, Gabriel Becker <gmbec...@ucdavis.edu> wrote: > Jony, > > I would caution that while R will run with just base, you won't be able to do > much of anything with it. All the statistical analysis and graphing functions > reside in additional packages. So practically speaking you'll need the > workarounds Simon mentioned involving an alternative to dyn.load so you can > attach additional packages. Your project looks pretty cool though! > > Also, as an aside have you seen the ipython notebook ( > http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/dev/interactive/htmlnotebook.html )? It > doesn't meet your requirement of not installing anything, and currently has a > slightly different focus, but the appearance of the documents is very similar > to what you are doing here (other than being server based), and it already > understands multiple languages, including python, R, matlab, octave, etc and > is being actively developed and supported. > > ~G > > > On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 8:21 AM, Jony Hudson <jony.hud...@imperial.ac.uk> > wrote: > Hi All, > > thanks for the replies. Very helpful to know that it will run with just > base. Looks like the best bet, at least to get started, is to not use the > usual build-process, but to come up with a simple build-script for just the > core. Ultimately, the build script has to be different anyway, as compiling > the Fortran code to JS requires a few more steps than the native compile. > > For a bit of context, the reason I'm toying with this is I've been > experimenting recently with analysis-in-the-browser. The kernel of the idea > is that if you could do real analysis, without installing anything, and share > it on the web then it would be a Good Thing, and could make it easier to > engage people with data. I've got a proof-of-concept version running here > http://www.monkeycruncher.org that let's you write javascript analysis code > in notebook-style documents. It's neat, but it's a bit hamstrung by the lack > of javascript libraries to actually do any useful analysis! If you could have > R running in there though, that would be a much better proposition ... > > I'll let you know if I make any progress! > > > Jony > > > -- > Centre for Cold Matter, The Blackett Laboratory, > Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW > T: +44 (0)207 5947741 > http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/jony.hudson > http://www.imperial.ac.uk/ccm/research/edm > http://www.monkeycruncher.org > http://j-star.org/ > -- > > On 3 May 2013, at 01:31, Simon Urbanek <simon.urba...@r-project.org> wrote: > > > On May 2, 2013, at 6:18 PM, Gabriel Becker wrote: > > > >> Jony, > >> > >> I'm currently writing up the paper for something with a similar result but > >> very different implementation. The RBrowserPlugin package/browser plugin > >> (joint with my advisor Duncan Temple Lang) embeds R within the web browser > >> as an NPAPI plugin. > >> > >> This approach allows full bi-directional communication between R and the > >> javascript engine (including direct function calling and references to > >> native objects in both directions) using a user's existing local R > >> installation (including packages). > >> > > > > Minor detail: it requires you to have R *and* a special plugin which makes > > it pretty much non-deployable. It's completely unrelated to what Jony is > > proposing - which doesn't require any dependencies and is actually pretty > > cool and would be useful if feasible. FWIW: There are many ways to run R > > from a browser that already exist - without the need for plugins or other > > client-side hacks - that's the beauty of modern browsers :). > > > > > > To get this back on the actual topic: I have been toying with > > cross-compiling R when I was porting it on the iPhone and it's possible, > > however, you can't use the build process as-is. It does build core R > > properly, but the problem is that you need to bootstrap R to build any > > packages. I worked around the problem at the time by building packages on > > another platform and re-using those files (things like lazy-loaded DBs, > > compiled RD files etc.). > > > > I can imagine that you'll need some equivalent to dynamic linking, but > > conceptually it's nothing else but calling functions, so I think you should > > be able to compile each package separately and just replace the dynload > > code by code that loads another JavaScript. The nice thing is that packages > > will simply be just another JS libraries. That's all in theory, I didn't > > actually try that part. I suspect you'll have a lot of work, e.g. you'll > > need to map all the I/O operations that load compiled/stored R code, > > documentation, data from somewhere etc. Good luck! > > If all fails, you can always compile R for JS/Linux ;). > > > > Cheers, > > Simon > > > > > > > >> Devel source at https://github.com/gmbecker/RFirefox, release, (hopefully) > >> officially cross-platform version to coincide with the paper going off for > >> review. > >> > >> I had toyed with the idea of the emscripten approach, but I think putting R > >> in the browser once is enough for me at the moment so I will happily keep > >> an eye on your project instead of attacking that myself :). > >> > >> As for your actual question I can't really say, other than that I suspect > >> you will not be able to dispense with base and methods, but that I would > >> conjecture that stats is "optional". > >> > >> ~G > >> > >> > >> On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 9:12 AM, Jony Hudson > >> <jony.hud...@imperial.ac.uk>wrote: > >> > >>> Hi, > >>> > >>> I'm trying to cross-compile R to javascript so that it can run in a > >>> web-browser. Take as long as you need to stop laughing. So, as I was > >>> saying > >>> - I want to try and get a build of R running in the browser. [If you're > >>> not > >>> familiar with it already, you might enjoy looking at emscripten.org. It's > >>> a remarkably capable tool for translating LLVM bitcode to javascript. > >>> Check > >>> out some of the demos!] > >>> > >>> I'm trying to start out with the most minimal build of R possible. I can > >>> turn off various options in the configure script, but I'm wondering about > >>> the bundled R packages (base, stats etc). I'm guessing that the native > >>> code > >>> portions of these packages are dynamically loaded at runtime, which will > >>> probably need patching. To start off, I'd like to not build these packages > >>> if possible. > >>> > >>> So, is there a way to configure which packages in the library get built or > >>> is it just a case of editing the makefile? And is there a minimal set of > >>> them that would still allow R to run (not be useful - that can come later > >>> - > >>> just run)? > >>> > >>> Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide :-) > >>> > >>> > >>> Jony > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Centre for Cold Matter, The Blackett Laboratory, > >>> Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW > >>> T: +44 (0)207 5947741 > >>> http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/jony.hudson > >>> http://www.imperial.ac.uk/ccm/research/edm > >>> http://www.monkeycruncher.org > >>> http://j-star.org/ > >>> -- > >>> > >>> ______________________________________________ > >>> R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > >>> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Gabriel Becker > >> Graduate Student > >> Statistics Department > >> University of California, Davis > >> > >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > >> > >> ______________________________________________ > >> R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > >> > >> > > > > > > > -- > Gabriel Becker > Graduate Student > Statistics Department > University of California, Davis ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
