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Re: Summary: Splus vs. R & Linux vs. Windows

To: Matt Calder <calder@phz.com>
Subject: Re: Summary: Splus vs. R & Linux vs. Windows
From: Frank E Harrell Jr <fharrell@virginia.edu>
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 07:39:03 -0500
Cc: Mike.Prager@noaa.gov, s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu
In-reply-to: <Pine.GSO.4.10.10202221702490.12671-100000@phz-6>
Organization: University of Virginia
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020222164505.00aed918@nsmail.ccfhrb.noaa.gov> <Pine.GSO.4.10.10202221702490.12671-100000@phz-6>
To add to what Matt said, when I ditched Windows 2000 and went to the real 
thing (Linux) I found out what I had been missing trying to get things working 
in Windows (especially easy of installation of Emacs, LaTeX, etc., speed, true 
operating system with symbolic links, etc.).  -Frank Harrell

On Fri, 22 Feb 2002 17:10:31 -0500 (EST)
Matt Calder <calder@phz.com> wrote:

> Michael,
>       About a year ago I tried a multitude of these ported shells in an effort
> to compile perl from source (it would not compile from the standard command
> prompt). I was not able to accomplish this task with either. In addition, I
> wanted an alternative shell to run under emacs on windows (98 to be precise).
> Again after much effort I was unable to get acceptable results. Perhaps these
> are not the best yardsticks to measure a shell by. If I recall correctly I 
> tried
> a port of bash, csh, tcsh, and 4DOS. 
> 
>       Matt
> 
> 
> On Fri, 22 Feb 2002, Michael Prager wrote:
> 
> > At 03:57 PM 02/22/2002 -0500, Matt Calder wrote:
> > 
> > >Right, what windows lacks is a decent shell in which to use these 
> > >tools.  If anyone knows otherwise please share.
> > 
> > Last time I investigated, most of the Unix shells had been ported to 
> > Windows, if that's what you mean by "decent." Most of them are available 
> > free.
> > 
> > A more MS-like shell is available commercially. That is 4NT (or 4DOS for 
> > the DOS-based Windows versions) from JP Software. Those shells provide 
> > command aliasing and abbreviation; directory history recall; command 
> > recall, completion, and editing; ability to associate command files with 
> > interpreters; and more, while retaining quite close compatibility with the 
> > native MS shells. What the JP programs don't provide is a direct 
> > translation of Unix shell scripting languages (which to me are overly 
> > cryptic); however, you can easily use Python or other scripting language 
> > (or use the 4NT/4DOS extended batch language, certainly no worse than that 
> > of the Unix shells).
> > 
> > Another option would be to install a complete Unix emulation layer, like 
> > the MKS toolkit or (I believe) cygwin.
> > 
> > There are excellent Windows character-based file managers, editors, etc., 
> > available for free or at nominal cost.
> > 
> > Those are some of the options for making Windows shell usage more 
> > interesting and productive. Whether any person will find them as good as, 
> > worse than, or about the same as some of the Unix shells will be a matter 
> > of taste (and perhaps habit).
> > 
> > (Note that none of the above should be construed as official NOAA opinion 
> > or endorsement.)
> > 
> > -- 
> > Michael Prager, Ph.D.                <Mike.Prager@noaa.gov>
> > NOAA Beaufort Laboratory
> > Beaufort, North Carolina  28516
> > http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/~mprager/
> > ***
> > 
> > 
> 
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-- 
Frank E Harrell Jr              Prof. of Biostatistics & Statistics
Div. of Biostatistics & Epidem. Dept. of Health Evaluation Sciences
U. Virginia School of Medicine  http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat

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