[BlindRUG] add-on packages

[Godfrey, Jonathan]

Hello Tim and all,

Rcmdr isn't really for creating scripts. It is just  affront end for getting analyses done. It does generate R code that can be kept as a script, but some of this code is reliant on the Rcmdr package itself being present. My only concern with this is that practically no one retains the Rcmdr code they use because it is a GUI and users follow the GUI way of working. I know some organizations use Rcmdr as a toll to help people get started with R and then wean them off it because it is not a comprehensive tool and ultimately most users will outgrow its feature set.

On the other hand, RStudio is primarily a tool for helping develop scripts and then packages of scripts converted to functions as well as having a huge amount of document preparation capacity. There are  a few things RStudio does that help the sighted world develop scripts (or functions) including bracket matching and code completion. These are features of most IDEs though so there's nothing special there. The package development tools are quite useful, as long as you work in the manner RStudio wants you to do. There are many people developing packages without RStudio though. Finally, the document construction features of RStudio are pretty awesome, but again they are not dependent on using RStudio.

On the whole, I think RStudio is a wonderful tool for the sighted user who might be new to R, but I suspect that I wouldn't have changed my ways from the solutions I already had before RStudio came along even if it was accessible.

Instead of RStudio:

-          I write scripts in an ordinary text editor, sometimes I use the one built into the GUI version of R because the students watching me expect it that way, but mostly I'm using plain old notepad.

-          I use the devtools package for package maintenance occasionally, but most often I just use the standard base R functionality.

-          I have started writing markdown documents as my preferred way of working throughout the latter half of 2014 and love it. I now have an editor under construction that builds these markdown documents into HTML files which I read in any old browser. It doesn't have the rich features of RStudio but they can be added later on in time. (I might need help doing that.) This application will be shared once we get it to a suitable level of development for sharing more widely.

Btw: I'm pretty sure RStudio is written using QT. Several of us have lobbied the RStudio team (early 2014) by email and I met with them at the UseR conference in July 2014 but they won't be trying to build any accessibility because they think it is just too hard to do so. The longer they leave it the more right they are.

Cheers,
Jonathan
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