[ESS] Problem installing ESS - I don't understand the instructions

[Rodney Sparapani]

PBK Research wrote:

> 2. Add the line
> 
> (require 'ess-site)
> 
> to `~/.emacs' and restart Emacs.
> 
> My problem is that I don't know what `~/.emacs' refers to. I have searched
> the whole of my hard disk for a file with the extension .emacs, or for any
> file containing the text 'emacs', without success. The fact that `~/.emacs'
> includes the slash, rather than the backslash, makes me wonder whether this
> instruction belongs in the Unix installation instructions (where exactly the
> same words are found) and there should be something different for Windows.
> 
> Could you please tell me where to find `~/.emacs' on my system?
> 
> Many thanks
> 
> Peter Kenny
> 

Hi Peter:

The instructions assume that the user is familiar with Emacs or XEmacs.
When referring to either, I write emacs.  I don't expect many non-emacs 
users to decide to install ESS on a whim.  In emacs, when you open the 
file ~/.emacs it opens/creates this file in your HOME directory (which 
is what ~/ stands for).  HOME is defined by the HOME environment 
variable on UNIX.  On Windows, it defaults to "c:/Documents and 
Settings/%USERNAME%/Application Data" for Emacs if not over-ridden by
the environment variable (XEmacs has no default and requires the 
environment variable to be set and the file is ~/.xemacs/init.el). 
Therefore, the forward slash has nothing to do with Windows vs. UNIX per 
se; rather it is an emacs-ism.  Using backslashes as the directory 
separator character in emacs, will work in many circumstances, but they 
may fail in others so they should be avoided on Windows.

Rodney
-- 
Rodney Sparapani      Center for Patient Care & Outcomes Research (PCOR)
Sr. Biostatistician              http://www.mcw.edu/pcor
4 wheels good, 2 wheels better!  Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW)
WWLD?:  What Would Lombardi Do?  Milwaukee, WI, USA