Extending ESS -- Mathematica

[A.J. Rossini]

Jan Rychter <jan at rychter.com> writes:


> Hi,
>
> I've been using ESS for a while now, with R. Since I do some work with
> Mathematica as well, I started wondering -- why not just use the same
> interface for both programs? The command-line frontend to Mathematica
> seems to behave very similarly to R (and probably many other
> interactive computational packages). The syntax for programs is very
> strict and logical. 
>
> Here's what an example session looks like:
>
> m1:/home/jwr>math
> Mathematica 4.2 for Linux
> Copyright 1988-2002 Wolfram Research, Inc.
>  -- Terminal graphics initialized -- 
>
> In[1]:= f[x_] := x^2
>
> In[2]:= Integrate[f[x], x]
>
>          3
>         x
> Out[2]= --
>         3
>
> In[3]:= Plot[f[x], {x, -2, 2}]
>                                                                               
> [...if you have X, a popup window appears, if you don't, you get a nice
>  ASCII plot...]
>
> Out[3]= -Graphics-
>
> In[4]:= Exit[]
>
> I wanted to ask before I do anything -- has anyone attempted this? Also,
> a word of advice would be nice: is it difficult to extend ESS to support
> another package? Are there any particular limitations of ESS that would
> make this a difficult undertaking?

Actually, I don't think it's that difficult to get a crude
approximation; i.e. "dump from code buffers", separate process/code
buffers.

HOWEVER, I know that it would be difficult to get command/object
completion done; that part of the code needs serious refactoring.

If you'd like to take a stab at it, let me know, and I can give
guidance; I'm a bit too preoccupied to do much more at this time. 

best,
-tony

-- 
A.J. Rossini rossini at u.washington.edu http://software.biostat.washington.edu/ 
Biostatistics, U Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

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