[R] Genuine relative paths with R

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 10/10/2018 6:52 PM, Olivier GIVAUDAN wrote:
>>  Again, you seem to think making a package is a big deal.
> 
> Perhaps not a big deal (I believe you, I didn't write an R package yet), 
> but not as straightforward as having a function within an R file 
> returning its own path.
> 
>> But you're free to decide not to do it:  just please don't repeat 
> falseclaims about R (like the ones about paths that started this long 
> thread).
> 
> Which false claims?

"But I am really wondering why R doesn't have (please tell me if I'm 
wrong) this basic feature as many other languages have it (batch, shell, 
C, LaTeX, SAS with macro-variables, etc.)?"

Duncan Murdoch

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *De :* Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>
> *Envoyé :* mercredi 10 octobre 2018 22:31
> *À :* Olivier GIVAUDAN; Jeff Newmiller
> *Cc :* r-help using r-project.org
> *Objet :* Re: [R] Genuine relative paths with R
> On 10/10/2018 6:17 PM, Olivier GIVAUDAN wrote:
>>> Nothing says a package has to go on CRAN.  You can distribute 
>> themprivately to a small audience.
>> 
>> Yes, I agree in theory. But this solution still violates my own 
>> proportionality principle.
> 
> Again, you seem to think making a package is a big deal.  Maybe that was
> true 10 years ago (though I wrote and tested a package in a 45 minute
> presentation at UseR 2008), but now it's very easy.
> 
> But you're free to decide not to do it:  just please don't repeat false
> claims about R (like the ones about paths that started this long thread).
> 
>> 
>>> If you know as much about R as the people who wrote it
>> 
>> I didn't claim that (that's was a quite general / theoretical statement, 
>> not necessarily and only applicable to R).
> 
> I didn't say you made that claim.  I was answering your question about
> why inventing your own way is not a good idea.  It might be a good idea,
> if you know the system very, very well.  Otherwise, it's probably better
> to work the standard way.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch
> 
>> 
>>> For example, you might thinkthat all front ends set the working 
>> directory to the directory of theprogram they are running, because the 
>> ones you've tried do it that way. But they don't.
>> 
>> It runs that way at least on Windows with RStudio and R GUI and I know 
>> the recipients of my R code work on Windows with at least one of these 2 
>> GUIs. So the workaround I finally found satisfies my current needs
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *De :* Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>
>> *Envoyé :* mercredi 10 octobre 2018 22:07
>> *À :* Olivier GIVAUDAN; Jeff Newmiller
>> *Cc :* r-help using r-project.org
>> *Objet :* Re: [R] Genuine relative paths with R
>> On 10/10/2018 5:45 PM, Olivier GIVAUDAN wrote:
>>> I'm not sure I'm "inventing my own way" of distributing R code... And I 
>>> distribute it to a very limited audience.
>> 
>> Nothing says a package has to go on CRAN.  You can distribute them
>> privately to a small audience.
>> 
>>> Anyway, why not "inventing a new way" if it's more efficient than the 
>>> standard one (I'm talking now in theory)?
>> 
>> If you know as much about R as the people who wrote it, then you can
>> almost certainly invent better ways to do many of the things it does.  R
>> Core was constrained by trying to maintain back compatibility, and that
>> means some of their solutions aren't perfect.
>> 
>> But if you don't know it that well, chances are you'll make mistakes
>> when you invent your own way of doing it.  For example, you might think
>> that all front ends set the working directory to the directory of the
>> program they are running, because the ones you've tried do it that way.
>> But they don't.
>> 
>> Duncan Murdoch
>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> *De :* Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>
>>> *Envoyé :* mercredi 10 octobre 2018 21:39
>>> *À :* Olivier GIVAUDAN; Jeff Newmiller
>>> *Cc :* r-help using r-project.org
>>> *Objet :* Re: [R] Genuine relative paths with R
>>> On 10/10/2018 5:31 PM, Olivier GIVAUDAN wrote:
>>>> I do not want to use the terminal, just double clicks (i.e. the 
>>>> simplest, automatic, non-manual way, without having to write a line / 
>>>> command).
>>>> Therefore everything should happen outside any terminal. The user won't 
>>>> use a terminal.
>>>> 
>>>> I don't have a Mac and I'm not familiar with this OS, sorry.
>>>> But I'm really surprised the click method gives different results than 
>>>> on Linux and Windows.
>>>> I know the click method worked both on Linux (Ubuntu latest version) and 
>>>> Windows (10).
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, I executed my file from a terminal and got obviously the same 
>>>> result as you (that's reassuring).
>>>> 
>>>> Come on guys, creating a package... It's like using a hammer to kill a 
>>>> fly...
>>> 
>>> It's a simple operation to create a package in RStudio.  Not quite a
>>> single click, but just a few.
>>> 
>>> In plain R, it's just a little more work using package.skeleton().
>>> 
>>> Really, if you are distributing R code, you should do it in the standard
>>> way, not invent your own.
>>> 
>>> Duncan Murdoch
>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> *De :* Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>
>>>> *Envoyé :* mercredi 10 octobre 2018 20:54
>>>> *À :* Olivier GIVAUDAN; Jeff Newmiller
>>>> *Cc :* r-help using r-project.org
>>>> *Objet :* Re: [R] Genuine relative paths with R
>>>> On 10/10/2018 4:42 PM, Olivier GIVAUDAN wrote:
>>>>> Why are you not simply double-clicking on 'TestPWD' and choosing to 
>>>>> execute the file (don't add anything)?
>>>>> Are you executing the file from a terminal?
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, I was executing the file from my terminal.  Otherwise I really have
>>>> no idea what the "current directory" is in the Finder.   (I'm on a Mac.
>>>> I just tried the click method; it printed my home directory, not the
>>>> directory of the script.)
>>>> 
>>>> I don't know the name of your visual front end, but you are displaying
>>>> the working directory that it sets when you click on TestPWD.  That will
>>>> be different from the working directory that your user sees in the Terminal.
>>>> 
>>>> You can see what I saw if you run TestPWD from the Terminal.  It will
>>>> print the current working directory, not the one where TestPWD happens
>>>> to live.
>>>> 
>>>> If you want to do the same sort of thing in R, you could set up a script
>>>> that calls R, and execute that in the way you executed TestPWD.  But in
>>>> another message you said you aren't allowed to do that, so I think your
>>>> best solution is the one offered by Bill Dunlap:  organize your files as
>>>> an R package.  If you name your package "Olivier", then you can find all
>>>> the files in it under the directory returned by
>>>> 
>>>>     system.file(".", package = "Olivier")
>>>> 
>>>> The package system is designed for R code, but you can put arbitrary
>>>> files into a package:  just store them under the "inst" directory in
>>>> your source.  When the package is installed, those files will be moved
>>>> up one level, i.e.
>>>> 
>>>> Olivier/inst/foo
>>>> 
>>>> will become
>>>> 
>>>>     system.file("foo", package = "Olivier")
>>>> 
>>>> Duncan Murdoch
>>> 
>> 
>