Re: Babel-R vs. ESS

[Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz@gmail.com>]

Shiyuan <gshy2014@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi all, 
> I am learning R and use Emacs to work with R. I googled around and I
> found two options: ESS and Org-R/Org-Babel. 
> Babel speaks multiple languages( Any languages?-if we write some sort
> of parser, which I assume is not terribly difficult under Babel?). 
>
> But if R is the primary language I would use, which option (Babel-R vs
> ESS) is more advisable? I do want a nice integration of
> graphics/source code into a paper/slides. 
>
> Any suggestions/options are appreciated. 

When you write a paper or slides Org(-Babel) is your best friend, I
would say. When its more about R programming with some sophisticated
documentation you could use outshine.el + outorg.el alternatively.

With Org, you are in a text-mode and have your (multi-language) code
'hidden' in source-blocks. For editing code, you switch to temporary
buffers in the programming-language mode. 

With Outshine&Outorg, you are in a programming-mode (ESS[R]) and have
your documentation 'hidden' as comments. For editing (comment-) text,
you switch to a temporary edit buffer in org-mode. 

I think there is even a third option, i.e. just using ESS[R] and nothing
else, I remember reading it has some multi-mode capabilities for
literate programming with sweave, but I'm not sure.

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten