4 The ESS Developers proudly announce the release of ESS
8 Emacs Speaks Statistics (ESS) provides an intelligent, consistent
9 interface between the user and the software. ESS interfaces with
10 S-PLUS, R, SAS, BUGS and other statistical analysis packages under the
11 Unix, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Mac OS operating systems. ESS is a
12 package for the GNU Emacs and XEmacs text editors whose features ESS
13 uses to streamline the creation and use of statistical software. ESS
14 knows the syntax and grammar of statistical analysis packages and
15 provides consistent display and editing features based on that
16 knowledge. ESS assists in interactive and batch execution of
17 statements written in these statistical analysis languages.
19 ESS is freely available under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
20 Please read the file COPYING which comes with the distribution, for
21 more information about the license. For more detailed information,
22 please read the README files that come with ESS.
24 1.1 Getting the Latest Version
25 ==============================
27 The latest released version of ESS is always available on the web at:
28 ESS web page (http://ess.r-project.org) or StatLib
29 (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/)
31 The latest development version of ESS is available via
32 `https://svn.R-project.org/ESS/', the ESS Subversion repository. If
33 you have a Subversion client (see `http://subversion.tigris.org/'), you
34 can download the sources using:
35 % svn checkout https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk PATH
36 which will put the ESS files into directory PATH. Later, within
37 that directory, `svn update' will bring that directory up to date.
38 Windows-based tools such as TortoiseSVN are also available for
39 downloading the files. Alternatively, you can browse the sources with a
40 web browser at: ESS SVN site (https://svn.r-project.org/ESS/trunk).
41 However, please use a subversion client instead to minimize the load
44 If you remove other versions of ESS from your emacs load-path, you
45 can then use the development version by adding the following to .emacs:
47 (load "/path/to/ess-svn/lisp/ess-site.el")
49 Note that https is required, and that the SSL certificate for the
50 Subversion server of the R project is
52 Certificate information:
53 - Hostname: svn.r-project.org
54 - Valid: from Jul 16 08:10:01 2004 GMT until Jul 14 08:10:01 2014 GMT
55 - Issuer: Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, CH
56 - Fingerprint: c9:5d:eb:f9:f2:56:d1:04:ba:44:61:f8:64:6b:d9:33:3f:93:6e:ad
58 (currently, there is no "trusted certificate"). You can accept this
59 certificate permanently and will not be asked about it anymore.
64 * Languages Supported:
65 * S family (S 3/4, S-PLUS 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x, and R)
73 * XLispStat including Arc and ViSta
75 * Editing source code (S family, SAS, BUGS/JAGS, XLispStat)
76 * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code
78 * Partial evaluation of code
80 * Loading and error-checking of code
82 * Source code revision maintenance
84 * Batch execution (SAS, BUGS/JAGS)
86 * Use of imenu to provide links to appropriate functions
88 * Interacting with the process (S family, SAS, XLispStat)
89 * Command-line editing
91 * Searchable Command history
93 * Command-line completion of S family object names and file
96 * Quick access to object lists and search lists
98 * Transcript recording
100 * Interface to the help system
102 * Transcript manipulation (S family, XLispStat)
103 * Recording and saving transcript files
105 * Manipulating and editing saved transcripts
107 * Re-evaluating commands from transcript files
109 * Help File Editing (R)
110 * Syntactic indentation and highlighting of source code.
112 * Sending Examples to running ESS process.
119 ESS has been tested with
123 * S-PLUS 3.3-4, 4.5, 2000, 5.0-1, 6.0-2, 7.0, 8.0
131 * JAGS 0.9, 1.0 (not quite working yet, patches welcome)
133 * Stata >=6.0 (recent Stata support limited due to changes in Stata)
135 on the following platforms
139 * Solaris/SPARC (all)
141 * MS Windows 98/NT/2000/XP (R, SPLUS 4.5/2000/6.0-2/7.0/8.0, SAS
142 interactive only, and BUGS 0.6)
144 * Apple Mac OS X 10.3-4 (R, JAGS)
146 with the following versions of emacs
148 * GNU Emacs 20.3-7, 21.1, 21.3-4, 22.1
150 * XEmacs 21.4.0-8, 21.4.9-13(1), 21.4.14-15, 21.4.17-21 (betas not
151 supported, but 21.5.23+ may work)
153 ---------- Footnotes ----------
155 (1) require the files.el patch to revert-buffer for the Local
156 Variables updating problem
161 Versions 5.3.x are meant to be release-quality versions. While some
162 new features are being introduced, we are cleaning up and improving the
163 interface. We know about some remaining documentation inconsistencies.
164 Patches or suggested fixes with bug reports are much appreciated!
169 There is a mailing list for discussions and announcements relating to
170 ESS. Join the list by sending an e-mail with "subscribe ess-help" (or
171 "help") in the body to <ess-help-request@stat.math.ethz.ch>;
172 contributions to the list may be mailed to
173 <ess-help@stat.math.ethz.ch>. Rest assured, this is a fairly
174 low-volume mailing list.
176 The purposes of the mailing list include
178 * helping users of ESS to get along with it.
180 * discussing aspects of using ESS on Emacs and XEmacs.
182 * suggestions for improvements.
184 * announcements of new releases of ESS.
186 * posting small patches to ESS.
191 Please send bug reports, suggestions etc. to
192 <ESS-bugs@stat.math.ethz.ch>
194 The easiest way to do this is within Emacs by typing
196 `M-x ess-submit-bug-report'
198 This also gives the maintainers valuable information about your
199 installation which may help us to identify or even fix the bug.
201 If Emacs reports an error, backtraces can help us debug the problem.
202 Type "M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET". Then run the
203 command that causes the error and you should see a *Backtrace* buffer
204 containing debug information; send us that buffer.
206 Note that comments, suggestions, words of praise and large cash
207 donations are also more than welcome.
212 * A.J. Rossini (mailto:blindglobe@gmail.com)
214 * Richard M. Heiberger (mailto:rmh@temple.edu)
216 * Kurt Hornik (mailto:Kurt.Hornik@R-project.org)
218 * Martin Maechler (mailto:maechler@stat.math.ethz.ch)
220 * Rodney A. Sparapani (mailto:rsparapa@mcw.edu)
222 * Stephen Eglen (mailto:stephen@gnu.org)
227 ESS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
228 the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
229 Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
232 ESS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
233 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
234 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
235 in the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details.
240 Changes/New Features in 5.3.7:
241 * ESS: `ess-default-style' now *is* customizable, i.e., changing
242 its value in `~/.emacs' now does have the desired effect.
244 * ESS: `ess-font-lock-mode' is a new variable (default: t) which
245 controls whether font-locking is enabled in ESS buffers.
247 * ESS[R]: for XEmacs on Windows; another tweak to find R versions
249 * ESS[SAS]: font-locking updated for ODS and SAS Bayesian Procedures;
250 a more consistent handling of SAS options by
251 `ess-sas-submit-command-options' which is buffer-local; portable
252 snooze for MS Windows via customize-able `ess-sleep-for' (floats
255 Changes/New Features in 5.3.6:
256 * ESS: for XEmacs, using "gnuclient" (without a "-q") works for
257 things like fix() after M-x gnuserv-start has been done.
259 * ESS[R]: M-x R-newest should now work in more situations on MS
260 Windows, e.g., when R has been installed in a non-default
261 "ProgramFiles" directory tree. In these cases, there's no need
262 to specify the name (and full path) of the R program anymore.
264 * ESS[R]: For XEmacs, startup (with new tooltip code) works again.
266 Changes/New Features in 5.3.5:
267 * ESS[R] a new defun is available, `M-x R-newest', which will start
268 the newest version of R that it can find on your system.
270 * ESS[R] add Sven Hartenstein's "R function arguments tips"
271 functionality, via new file `../lisp/essd-r-args.el'. Note that
272 this includes an "electric "("" behavior inside `R-mode' which is
273 _active by default_ and can be customized via
274 `ess-r-args-electric-paren'; i.e., use `(setq
275 ess-r-args-electric-paren nil)' to turn it off. Further,
276 `ess-r-args-show-as' allows to switch to the "tooltip" mode.
278 * ESS: functions `ess-get-pdf-viewer' and *-ps-viewer; built on new
279 customizable variables `ess-pdf-viewer-pref' and
280 `ess-ps-viewer-pref'; currently used in `ess-swv-PDF' and `*-PS'.
282 * ESS[R] Improved `ess-swv-PDF' to run pdf viewer only if pdflatex
285 * ESS[R] Improved `ess-swv-weave' to start R automatically if none
288 * ESS: Do no longer ask _which_ ESS process to use if there is only
291 Changes/New Features in 5.3.4:
292 * ESS[R] now better work with options(error=recover); and the new
293 default of CHM help files on windows.
295 * ESS[R] some more cleanup in the "sweave" functions
297 * miscellaneous fixes
299 Changes/New Features in 5.3.3:
300 * ESS[S] fix buglet (5.3.2 only) which left command prompt in
301 "execute buffer" and hence help files.
303 * new customizable variable `ess-display-buffer-reuse-frames' set to
304 true (which changes default behavior) such that execution or help
307 Changes/New Features in 5.3.2:
308 * Classic BUGS now supported by `(require 'essd-bugs)' with ESS[BUGS]
309 and JAGS by `(require 'essd-jags)' with ESS[JAGS]. But,
310 only one of them can be used at a time since they don't play
311 nice together. Also, `C-c C-c' is now bound to the function
312 `ess-bugs-next-action' (`F12' has been retired). And
313 finally, note that `essl-bug.el' is deprecated and the
314 replacement is `essl-bugs.el'.
316 * ESS[R] Improved some of the "Sweave-make" functions (yet scarcely
317 documented) in `ess-swv.el'.
319 * ESS[S] No longer mess with .Last.value (nor in other "languages").
321 Changes/New Features in 5.3.1:
322 * See the docs for 2 ways to install ESS for XEmacs
323 1. by uncommenting the XEmacs part of Section 1 of
324 `Makeconf' and performing `make install'
326 2. by unpacking either `ess-5.3.1.tgz' or
328 `PREFIX/lib/xemacs/site-packages' on unix or
329 `PREFIX\XEmacs\site-packages' on windows
331 * ESS[R]: fixed bugs so that Rterm.exe can be found by XEmacs
333 * ESS[S]: `ess-toggle-S-assign-key' is slightly changed; in
334 particular, the default `ess-assign-key' is now `C-x ='.
336 * ESS[R]: `M-x R-site-search' is a new (slightly experimental)
337 utility similar to R's `RSiteSearch(..)' but with the advantage of
338 using Emacs' preferred browser, see `browse-url-browser-function'
340 Changes/New Features in 5.3.0:
341 * ESS[BUGS]: sanely re-format statistical output, `.bog', from
342 scientific notation to numbers rounded with 4 decimal places with
343 `M-x ess-bugs-sci-round-to-4-dp'.
345 * The keys for navigating among section headings in help buffers
346 worked, but only for one language per session; they should now
347 work for multiple languages. (They were also broken on Windows
350 * ESS[S] long standing buglets in the internal logic for loading
351 lisp code on Windows. Particularly fixed behavior in help mode
354 * New variable, `ess-use-inferior-program-name-in-buffer-name',
355 which enables using the executable name instead of the dialect
356 name for R. Feature request.
358 * ESS[S] `ess-execute-screen-options' now also works correctly when
359 there is more than one window *side-by-side* in the same frame and
360 runs in the correct buffer also when there is more than one S
363 * iESS[S] new functions `ess-eval-paragraph-and-step' and
364 `ess-eval-function-or-paragraph-and-step' are bound to keys `C-c
365 C-p' and `C-c C-c' respectively and to the menu in ESS-mode; also
366 bound in the help mode (for evaluating examples).
368 * ESS[S] new function `ess-toggle-S-assign-key' allows to assign the
369 " <- " insertion to an arbitrary key.
371 Changes/New Features in 5.2.12:
372 * ESS[SAS]: `M-;' fixed, but the XEmacs function `comment-dwim' may
373 be broken, if so, use `M-x comment-region' and `M-x
374 uncomment-region' instead; only valid PROCs are fontified which is
375 very helpful finding syntax errors (currently supported: BASE,
376 ETS, FSP, GRAPH, IML, INSIGHT and STAT); the "feature" where
377 `F'-keys take you to an empty buffer when the requested
378 destination is a file that does not exist has been fixed, now the
379 request results in a no-op. Further, sas-mode now also works in
382 * Rterm/Cygwin combination works under Microsoft Windows.
384 * ESS[R]: internal calls use baseenv() instead of NULL and define
385 'baseenv' where needed.
387 * New experimental support for installing ESS. See the file
388 `lisp/ess-install.el'.
390 Changes/New Features in 5.2.11:
391 * ESS Info entry and `dir' handled more effectively for GNU Emacs
394 * ESS[SAS]: temporary files created for batch submission of a region
395 are now named based on the current file; see `ess-sas-file-root'
396 for details; all `lag' and `dif' functions now fontified correctly
398 * iESS[SAS]: fixed a few nagging bugs, however, still does not
399 appear to work at this time; please let us know if you have any
402 * ESS[S]: Support for running other versions of Splus has been added
403 for unix. Two new variables, `ess-s-versions' and
404 `ess-s-versions-list', are used to tell ESS what other versions of
405 Splus you would like to run.
407 Changes/New Features in 5.2.10:
408 * ESS[R]: ess-r-versions can no longer be customized (since the
409 customization was not taking effect unless customizations were
410 loaded before ESS). Its value has been changed so that it will
411 also find R executables beginning "R-devel" and "R-patched". If
412 you wish to change this variable, it must be set in your `.emacs'
413 before ESS is loaded.
415 * Installation with GNU Make enhanced: unix and unix-like operating
416 systems will now be able to install ESS for all users in either a
417 GNU Emacs site-lisp or an XEmacs package configuration by editing
418 `lisp/ess-site.el' and `Makeconf' accordingly, then issuing `make
421 * ESS[S]: Filename completion (inside strings) now also works in
422 XEmacs for R and S-plus.
424 Changes/New Features in 5.2.9:
425 * ESS[R] for Windows: the \ directory character bug with respect to
426 ess-load-file has been eradicated.
428 * iESS[SAS]: `C-c C-r' and `C-c C-b' once again work as intended and
431 * ESS[S]: M-x ess-fix-EQ-assign is a bit more agressive.
433 * ESS[S]: Imenu now also shows setAs(), etc.
435 * ESS[R]: R function pattern enhanced with underlying code such that
436 `M-C-a' (`ess-beginning-of-function') etc now work for many more
437 cases, including S4 method definitions.
439 * iESS[R]: myOwnhelp(1) no longer wrongly triggers help(1).
441 * ESS[R]: Improved detection of bogus help buffers: valid help
442 buffers containing with the string "no documentation"(e.g. contour)
443 were being treated as bogus.
445 * ESS[R]: In R help buffers, if `options("help.try.all.packages" =
446 TRUE)' then `?rlm' will list which packages rlm is defined in.
447 This help buffer is not bogus, but instead is now relabelled
448 "*help[R](rlm in packages)*".
450 * ESS[STA]: add "//" as comment starting character to syntax-table.
452 Changes/New Features in 5.2.8:
453 * iESS: [Tab] completes *file* names "inside string" as in earlier
454 (<= 5.2.3) ESS versions.
456 Changes/New Features in 5.2.7:
457 * If you use Custom to change the variable ess-toolbar-items, the
458 new toolbar is used in all subsequent ESS buffers.
460 * ESS[SAS]: new feature: if ess-sas-log-max >0 and your .log grows
461 to more than ess-sas-log-max bytes, just the first ess-sas-log-max
462 bytes are refreshed; this is helpful when your .sas program
463 generates lots of error messages and gets too big for emacs to
466 * ESS[R/S]: `M-;' in R/S editing modes will now indent with either
467 one or two hashes depending on context.
469 * ESS[R]: David Whiting's Sweave extensions (to 'noweb') are now
470 available (from ess-swv.el loaded by default).
472 Changes/New Features in 5.2.6:
473 * Removed non-ASCII characters in a few files.
475 * ESS[R]: now works better when UTF-8 locale is active; in
476 particular, you get correct directional quotes in R's startup
477 message for R-devel (unstable development version of R 2.1.0)
478 when using environment variables LANGUAGE=en@quot
481 * ESS[SAS]: toggling of .log mode improved (`F10'); toggling of .lst
482 mode now also available (`C-F10'); killing all buffers associated
483 with .sas program no longer bound to `C-F10' since its a bit
486 * S-Plus 7 for Windows is now recognized.
488 * ESS[S] (incl. R): in auto-fill mode, strings are not wrapped
491 * ESS[S] (incl. R): font-lock now correctly differs between R and S,
492 e.g., for "_"; both now fontify warning(.) and S does terminate()
495 * Support for `bell' aka `beep' aka `ding' aka `alarm' in all
496 inferior modes: When \a is output "to the the console" at the
497 beginning of a line, the bell is rung.
499 Changes/New Features in 5.2.5:
500 * ESS[R]: `C-c C-q' or `Quit S' from the menu now should work (again
501 and less klunkily) and do not append `-exited' to the buffer name.
502 Further, the behavior of `(ess-cleanup)', called from ess-quit,
503 now depends on the new customizable variable
504 `ess-S-quit-kill-buffers-p' which defaults to `nil'.
505 Consequently, the question _"Delete all buffers associated with
506 ..?"_ will not be asked anymore by default.
508 * ESS[SAS] - ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace will now work
509 with the `recode' application as well which is available on many
512 * ESS[S] (incl. R): Name completion for slots of S4 objects now
515 Changes/New Features in 5.2.4:
516 * The documentation now includes an overview of how to use the emacs
517 TAGS facility for S functions. (The distribution also used to
518 contain a directory `etc/other/Tags' where a ~1990 version of
519 `etags.c' was distributed; this is no longer relevant and so has
522 * ESS[SAS] - When you are working with EBCDIC files on an ASCII
523 platform, .log NOTEs may display as gibberish since the EBCDIC
524 characters are not converted to ASCII prior to their display. So,
525 the function ess-ebcdic-to-ascii-search-and-replace is provided for
526 convenience and is bound to `C-F11'. This function requires the
527 `dd' command (only available on unix or unix-like platforms).
529 * ESS: Completion of object names is now always done dynamically
530 rather than allowing the option of using a pre-computed database
531 (by `ess-create-object-name-db') since modern computers seem fast
532 enough for dynamic completion. (We expect few users, if any, have
533 been using the pre-computed database method.)
535 * ESS: object completion in iESS buffers running on Windows was very
536 slow (for GNU Emacs, but not XEmacs) and has now been fixed.
537 Further, it was more or less broken for all versions of S-plus 6.x,
538 and has been fixed to work everywhere but with the Windows' GUI of
539 S-plus. The list of objects now shows unique names also when an
540 object appears more than once in the search path.
542 * ESS[R]: Completion of object names now also includes those
545 Changes/New Features in 5.2.3:
546 * ESS: When new inferior ESS processes are created, by default they
547 will replace the current buffer (this restores behavior from pre
548 5.2.0). If you wish new ESS processes to start in another window
549 of the current frame, set inferior-ess-same-window to nil.
551 * New variables inferior-Splus-args and inferior-R-args provide a
552 way to pass command line arguments to starting S and R processes.
554 Changes/New Features in 5.2.2:
555 * bug-fixes for 5.2.1 (require 'executable), html docs, etc.
557 * ess-lisp-directory/../doc/info added to Info-directory-list if
558 ess-info not found by info
560 * ESS[R]: If you have other versions of R on your exec-path, such as
561 "R-1.8.1" with Unix or "rw1081" with Windows, ESS will find them
562 and create appropriate functions, such as `M-x R-1.8.1' or `M-x
563 rw1081', for calling them. By default only Unix programs
564 beginning "R-1" and "R-2" and Windows programs parallel to the
565 version of R in your exec-path will be found, but see
566 ess-r-versions and ess-rterm-versions for ways to find other
569 * ESS[R]: Other versions of R, such as "R-1.8.1" on Unix and
570 "rw1081" on Windows, are added to the "ESS / Start Process /
573 * ESS[S]: If you have other versions of S-Plus on your Windows
574 computer, such as S-Plus 6.1 or S-Plus 4.5, ESS will find them and
575 create appropriate functions, such as `M-x splus61', for calling
576 the console version (Sqpe) inside an emacs buffer. By default only
577 programs installed in the default location will be found, but see
578 ess-SHOME-versions for ways to find other versions of S-Plus.
580 * ESS[S]: Other versions of Sqpe on Windows, such as "splus61", are
581 added to the "ESS / Start Process / Other" menu.
583 * ESS[R]: (bug fix) ess-quit (bound to `C-c C-q') should now quit the
584 inferior R process, when issued from either the inferior buffer,
587 Changes/New Features in 5.2.1:
588 * ESS[S] (R and S-plus): now have toolbar support with icons to
589 evaluate code in the inferior process or to switch there. This
590 code is experimental and likely to change as XEmacs/Emacs issues
591 get resolved. The toolbar should be enabled if your Emacs displays
592 images, but can be disabled with the variable ess-use-toolbar.
593 Thanks to David Smith from Insightful for the S-plus logo.
595 * ESS[SAS]: ess-sas-graph-view (`F12') enhanced; you can specify
596 external file viewers for each graphics file type via the alist
597 ess-sas-graph-view-viewer-alist; also .jpg/.gif are now handled by
598 image-mode on XEmacs, if available, otherwise by graphics
601 Changes/New Features in 5.2.0:
602 * ESS[BUGS]: new info documentation! now supports interactive
603 processing thanks to Aki Vehtari (mailto:Aki.Vehtari@hut.fi); new
604 architecture-independent unix support as well as support for BUGS
607 * ESS[SAS]: convert .log to .sas with ess-sas-transcript; info
608 documentation improved; Local Variable bug fixes; SAS/IML
609 statements/functions now highlighted; files edited remotely by
610 ange-ftp/EFS/tramp are recognized and pressing SUBMIT opens a
611 buffer on the remote host via the local variable
612 ess-sas-shell-buffer-remote-init which defaults to "ssh"; changed
613 the definition of the variable ess-sas-edit-keys-toggle to boolean
614 rather than 0/1; added the function ess-electric-run-semicolon
615 which automatically reverse indents lines containing only "run;";
616 `C-F1' creates MS RTF portrait from the current buffer; `C-F2'
617 creates MS RTF landscape from the current buffer; `C-F9' opens a
618 SAS DATASET with PROC INSIGHT rather than PROC FSVIEW; "inferior"
619 aliases for SAS batch: `C-c C-r' for submit region, `C-c C-b' for
620 submit buffer, `C-c C-x' for goto .log; `C-c C-y' for goto .lst
622 * ESS[S]: Pressing underscore ("_") once inserts " <- " (as before);
623 pressing underscore twice inserts a literal underscore. To stop
624 this smart behaviour, add "(ess-toggle-underscore nil)" to your
625 .emacs after ess-site has been loaded;
626 ess-dump-filename-template-proto (new name!) now can be customized
627 successfully (for S language dialects); Support for Imenu has been
628 improved; set ess-imenu-use-S to non-nil to get an "Imenu-S" item
629 on your menubar; ess-help: Now using nice underlines (instead of
632 * ESS[R]: After (require 'essa-r), `M-x ess-r-var' allows to load
633 numbers from any Emacs buffer into an existing *R* process; `M-x
634 ess-rdired' gives a "directory editor" of R objects; fixed
635 ess-retr-lastvalue-command, i.e. .Last.value bug (thanks to David
638 * ESS: Support for creating new window frames has been added to ESS.
639 Inferior ESS processes can be created in dedicated frames by
640 setting inferior-ess-own-frame to t. ESS help buffers can also
641 open in new frames; see the documentation for ess-help-own-frame
642 for details. (Thanks to Kevin Rodgers for contributing code.)
644 Changes/New Features in 5.1.24:
645 * The version number is now correct even inside ESS/Emacs
647 Changes/New Features in 5.1.23:
648 * Minor more Makefile clean up.
650 Changes/New Features in 5.1.22:
651 * Besides info documentation, PDF and HTML documentation are also
652 provided (instead of built using "make") and available on the web
653 as well; see ESS web page (http://ess.r-project.org/) and StatLib
654 (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/general/ESS/doc)
656 * Now that info documentation is available, the README.* files are
657 no longer supported. However, they are still distributed for what
660 * ESS is now an XEmacs package! See XEmacs Installation HOWTO
661 (http://www.xemacs.org/Install/index.html) for details
662 (specifically, items 10-15).
664 * ESS[SAS]: more user-friendly enhancements for remote SAS batch
665 jobs with Kermit file transfers (LOG and OUTPUT function key
666 features now supported). Multiple shells now supported so you can
667 run SAS on different computers from different buffers by setting
668 the buffer-local variable ess-sas-shell-buffer to unique buffer
671 * Major re-vamping of Makefile/Makeconf.
673 Changes/New Features in 5.1.21:
674 * ESS[SAS]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for
675 SAS; `F12' opens GSASFILE nearest point for viewing either within
676 emacs, when available, or via an external viewer; more syntax
677 highlighting keywords; more enhancements for remote SAS batch jobs
678 with Kermit; new framework for remote SAS interactive jobs, see
681 * ESS[S]: info documentation now available!, see ESS->Help for the S
684 * Makefile: tag now independent of rel; info files made by
685 doc/Makefile and installed in new info sub-directory
687 Changes/New Features in 5.1.20:
688 * New `options()$STERM' in the S dialects (S, S-Plus, R). The S
689 program can determine the environment in which it is currently
690 running. ESS sets the option to `iESS' or `ddeESS' when it starts
691 an S language process. We recommend other specific values for S
692 language processes that ESS does not start.
694 * New `ess-mouse-me' function, assigned to S-mouse-3 by default.
695 User may click on a word or region and then choose from the menu
696 to display the item, or a summary, or a plot, etc. This feature
697 is still under development.
699 * GNU Emacs 21.1 is now supported (fixed for S dialects, SAS & BUGS),
700 (some from Stephen Eglen).
702 * XEmacs 21.x is now supported (fixed w32-using-nt bug)
704 * XEmacs on Win (NT) is better supported.
706 * Workaround for bug in Sqpe+6 (S-PLUS 6 for Win).
708 * should now work even when imenu is not available (for old
711 * ESS[SAS]: XEmacs-Imenu fix; `C-TAB' is globalized along with your
712 function-key definitions, if specified; you can specify your SAS
713 library definitions outside of autoexec.sas for ess-sas-data-view
714 with SAS code placed in the variable ess-sas-data-view-libname,
715 also the dataset name is defaulted to the nearest permanent dataset
716 to point; Speedbar support now works for permanent datasets, please
717 ignore first./last.; new font-locking is now the default with more
718 improvements for font-locking PROCs, macro statements, * ; and %* ;
719 comments; you can toggle sas-log-mode with `F10' which will
720 font-lock your .log (if it isn't too big); submit remote .sas
721 files accessed with ange-ftp, EFS or Tramp (Kermit is
722 experimental) by setting ess-sas-submit-method to 'sh;
723 ess-sas-submit-command and ess-sas-submit-command-options are
724 buffer-local so you can have local file variable sections at the
725 end of your .sas files to request different executables or specify
726 special options and the local file variables are re-read at submit
727 instead of only at file open so that if you make a change it is
728 picked up immediately;
730 * ESS[BUGS]: font-lock with `in' fixed.
732 * for STATA: font-lock bug fixed.
734 * for Rd mode: `C-c C-v' and `switch-process' in menu. further,
735 `C-c C-f' prefix (Rd-font) for inserting or surrounding a word by
736 things such as \code{.}, \code{\link{.}}, \emph{.} etc.
738 * new functions (ess-directory-function) and (ess-narrow-to-defun)
739 ess-directory <-> default-directory logic (Jeff Mincy).
741 * Re-organized Makefile and fixed a few bugs.
743 Changes/New Features in 5.1.19:
744 * S+6 now supported (Tony Rossini (Unix) and Rich Heiberger
747 * New BUGS support through ESS[BUGS] mode (Rodney Sparapani)
748 Templates assist you in writing .bug and .cmd code (.cmd and .log
749 are replaced by .bmd and .bog to avoid emacs extension collisions).
750 Substitution" parameters facilitate "automagic" generation of
751 data...in" and "init...in" filenames, "const N=" from your data
752 file and "monitor()/stats()" commands. Activated by pressing
755 * Fixes for `ess-smart-underscore' SAS breakage (Rich Heiberger)
757 * You can change between PC and Unix, local and global SAS
758 function-key definitions interactively (Rich Heiberger)
760 * `C-Submit' a highlighted region to SAS batch (Rodney Sparapani)
762 * New and improved SAS syntax highlighting (Rodney Sparapani) To get
763 the new functionality, set ess-sas-run-make-regexp to nil. Also
764 available in .log files via `F10'.
766 * Open a permanent SAS dataset for viewing via `F9' (Rodney
767 Sparapani) You must have the library defined in autoexec.sas for
770 * User-friendly defaults for `sas-program',
771 `ess-sas-batch-pre-command' and `ess-sas-batch-post-command' as
772 well Customize support for these and other ESS[SAS] variables
775 * `ess-sas-suffix-2' now defaults to .dat via `F11' (Rodney
778 * Emacs/XEmacs, Unix/Windows issues collectively handled in
781 * defadvice solves problem of missing *ESS* (thanks to Jeff Mincy)
783 * Improved manual a bit by including things that were only in
786 Changes/New Features in 5.1.18:
787 * New `ess-smart-underscore' function, now assigned to "_" by
788 default. Inserts `ess-S-assign' (customizable " <- "), unless
789 inside string and comments where plain "_" is used instead. (MM)
791 * Fixes for longstanding interactive SAS breakage (RMH)
793 Changes/New Features in 5.1.17:
794 * Documentation for Windows Installation (Rich Heiberger)
796 * removal of ess-vars, finalization of customize support (in the
797 sense that there is no more use of ess-vars, but that we need to
798 fix ess-cust) (AJ Rossini)
800 * Many small (and large) fixes/contributions (MMaechler)
802 * addition of the "S-equal" variable and provide `M-x
803 ess-add-MM-keys' a way to remap "_" to `ess-S-assign', typically "
804 <- ", but customizable. (MMaechler)
806 Changes/New Features in 5.1.16:
811 Changes/New Features in 5.1.15:
814 Changes/New Features in 5.1.14:
815 * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, (Rich Heiberger and Rodney Sparapani)
817 * Customize support (for most Emacsen which support it) (AJRossini)
819 * ARC and ViSta support out of the box, and fixes for XLispStat
822 Changes/New Features in 5.1.13:
823 * Version numbering finally all depending on the ./VERSION file,
824 thanks to Martin Maechler.
826 * Yet more fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rich Heiberger.
828 Changes/New Features in 5.1.12:
829 * Splus 5.1 stabilized, thanks to Martin Maechler, Bill Venables,
830 Chuck Taylor, and others.
832 * More fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani and Rich
835 Changes/New Features in 5.1.11:
836 * More fixes to Stata mode, thanks to Brendan Halpin
837 (mailto:brendan@essex.ac.uk).
839 * fixed bugs in ESS-elsewhere, thanks to many testers
841 * README.SPLUS4WIN has DETAILED instructions for S-PLUS 2000, thanks
842 to David Brahm (mailto:brahm@alum.mit.edu).
844 * Fixes to SAS mode, thanks to Rodney Sparapani
846 Changes/New Features in 5.1.10:
847 * More fixes to Stata mode
849 * primitive generic version of ESS-elsewhere
851 * Small fixes to SAS/Stata.
853 Changes/New Features in 5.1.9:
856 * Literate Data Analysis using Noweb works
858 Changes/New Features in 5.1.8:
861 * R documentation mode defaults changed
863 Changes/New Features in 5.1.2:
864 * able to use inferior iESS mode to communicate directly with a
865 running S-Plus 4.x process using the Microsoft DDE protocol. We
866 use the familiar (from Unix ESS) `C-c C-n' and related key
867 sequences to send lines from the S-mode file to the inferior S
868 process. We continue to edit S input files in ESS[S] mode and
869 transcripts of previous S sessions in ESS Transcript mode. All
870 three modes know the S language, syntax, and indentation patterns
871 and provide the syntactic highlighting that eases the programming