1 From: David M Smith <D.M.Smith@lancs.ac.uk>
2 To: s-news@utstat.toronto.edu
4 Date: Mon, 5 Feb 96 10:03:48 GMT
6 Without wishing to inflame this somewhat evangelical debate even
7 further, but since it seems several people are wondering, I thought
8 I'd point out just what benefits are available in using S-mode under
9 Emacs compared to the usual Unix "Splus -e" or S-plus for Windows:
11 * Much improved command-line and history facility, including
12 recall of commands containing a particular string, and
13 saving of history between sessions
15 * Completion of S object names with the TAB key (like
16 tcsh/bash) to reduce typing
18 * Automatic recording of session transcripts (input and
19 output) and facility for re-executing commands from saved
22 * A specialised mode for editing S functions, including
23 automatic indentation, coloured syntax highlighting, and
24 error location. You can easily edit more than one function
25 at a time (and continue to use the S command line in the
26 meantime), and do partial or line-by-line evaluation of
27 functions for testing/debugging
29 * Facility for running more than one S session simultaneously
31 If it seems like these facilities would make your life that little bit
32 better, and you have the time to invest in learning Emacs and
33 installing S-mode, then it may be time well invested. If, when using
34 S-plus, you never think to yourself "Gee, I wish doing *this* was
35 easier!" then it's probably not worth it. Nonetheless, more
36 information about S-mode is available from
38 http://www.maths.lancs.ac.uk:2080/~maa036/elisp/S-mode/
43 David M. Smith, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University
44 <D.M.Smith@lancaster.ac.uk> x3952 http://www.maths.lancs.ac.uk:2080/~maa036/