To the R developers,
I would like to point out an issue that occurs with the new R 4.2.0
running on Windows; this is possibly related to the recent wide
changes made to the Windows port of R. The issue has to do with
writing of the R window.
My computer runs on Windows 10 Professional 64-bit with all the
latest updates, and has a 4-core 8-thread Intel Xeon processor with
32 Gb of RAM.
I have some slight impairment in my hands, so for typing I avoid
using the computer keyboard as much as possible. For most of my
typing, I use the software Dasher, a kind of assistive technology
software. Dasher was created by the Inference Group led by Professor
David MacKay (died in 2016) at Cambridge University in England.
Later, Dasher was further developed by Ada Majorek (a Google
engineer, recently deceased).
General information on Dasher and about the Dasher Project can be
found on the Inference Group page:
http://www.inference.org.uk/dasher/
An example of Dasher in action can be seen on this 2-minute YouTube
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr3s4613DX8
An one-hour YouTube video of a 2007 Google Talk by Professor MacKay
himself explaining the Dasher concept can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpOxbesRNBc
In the 2-minute video (the first YouTube address above), the
sentence written through Dasher, for actual use, needs to be copied
and then pasted into another software, say a text editor. But Dasher
also has a "Direct Entry" mode, where words typed are entered
directly on the screen of the text editor or other software -- this
is how I use Dasher to write on the R window.
Using Dasher`s "Direct Entry" mode, for all effects, to write a word
through Dasher works exactly like writing the word through the
normal computer keyboard. Somehow (I do not know about system
programming), in "Direct Entry" mode, the output of Dasher is
understood by the computer as an input of the same nature as a
keyboard input.
But this is the issue: until R 4.1.3, R accepted normally the
word-typing through Dasher. But R 4.2.0 (and R 4.2.0-patched build
r82348, 12 May 2022) does not accept Dasher anymore.
So, for now, if I wish to use R during some extended interactive
section (say, for a first look at a complex data set), and if I wish
to use Dasher for this interactive session, then I have to use R
4.1.3. For using R through programming, I can use the new R 4.2.0,
by writing the program with Dasher in my text editor, and then
pasting that program into R.
The latest Windows version of Dasher, version 5.0.0 beta, works
perfectly well with text editors (I use EditPad Pro), with
Microsoft-like Office packages (I use SoftMaker Office), for writing
e-mails (I use Mozilla Thunderbird), for writing on a web page (I
use mostly Mozilla Firefox). It worked perfectly well with R up to
version 4.1.3, but it does not work with R 4.2.0
The latest Dasher 5.0.0 beta Windows installer and the source code
can be found on this page below (please click on "Windows installer"
and on "source code", just below the head "Dasher 5.0 beta release"):
https://github.com/dasher-project/dasher/releases
To set Dasher 5.0.0 beta to the "Direct Entry" mode, after
installing Dasher one should go to Preferences > Application >
Application Style.
Currently, after the passing of Ada Majorek, the Dasher Project is
being put forward by a group of people in England, but, it seems, at
a very slow pace. They have announced the existence of a version 6
beta, but this is only an online instance of Dasher, there is no
Windows installer, as far as I know. Their web page:
https://dasher.acecentre.net/
For me, and possibly for other users, the Dasher version 5.0.0 beta
for Windows that is available works perfectly well, and allows me to
use the computer with a proficiency that would be hardly possible
otherwise.
Here I request that the R developers take a look at this word-typing
issue that happens with the new R 4.2.0 on Windows.
As an R user (I work in ecological research), I can only thank the R
team for this really wonderful piece of statistical software that
you make freely available to us all.
Regards,
Paulo Barata
(Rio de Janeiro - Brazil)
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