<div dir="auto">Hi Robin,<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Thank you so much for giving me tons of good information. I used to code using Emacs, but giving that I have to teach R and stats, I quit using it. But I do prefer Emacs.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I'll follow your recommendations and test if I can teach a similar workflow to my student. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I apologize for taking so long to reply, my duties at work were intense these past weeks.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Thanks again for your help.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Sep 24, 2024, 1:35 AM Robin Williams via BlindRUG <<a href="mailto:blindrug@nfbnet.org">blindrug@nfbnet.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi Esteban,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks for reaching out with this important question, and apologies for my slow response.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I am not a teacher, rather, I am a statistician working in industry. I am increasingly using VSCode, both for writing and running R code, however, it is not yet my primary environment.
The reasons for that are part legacy, in that I have used Emacs with Emacs Speaks Statistics for almost 15 years now, as well as a couple shortcomings of VSCode which I would like addressed before I make the full switch. With that said, I would not recommend
Emacs as a suitable environment for an undergraduate student. VSCode, on the other hand, has a learning curve that is less steep, in my opinion.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">As well as running R code, I also use VSCode to write and compile C++, and to interact with Git. This is another appeal – it’s very nice as a blind person to have one tool that allows
you to accomplish so much.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The only extensions relating to R that I currently have installed are ‘R’ and ‘R Debugger’.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">A brief summary of my workflow in VSCode is as follows.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc">
<li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Make heavy use of the command pallet – ctrl+shift+p, and the settings editor ctrl+,<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">To run an R session, once the above extensions are installed, launch a terminal session with the R profile, using the aforementioned
command pallet.<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Open, or create, an R script in the editor.<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Within the editor, to run the current line of code and have the cursor move to the next line, press ctrl+enter. To maintain
the current cursor position, press alt+enter.<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">To run a block of code, select it using the anchor commands. Place the cursor at the start of the block, and hit ctrl+k followed
by ctrl+b. Move the cursor to the end of the block, and hit ctrl+k twice. Then use either ctrl+enter or alt+enter to run the selected block.<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Enjoy all the autocompletion and code suggestions while writing new code. I sometimes find these a bit verbose, and you can
turn it off altogether if you wish.<u></u><u></u></span></li></ul>
<p class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">A few comments on interacting with the terminal, which we launched at the beginning.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc">
<li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Microsoft have implemented an accessibility buffer, which enables a screen reader user to inspect the terminal output. To
get there, run the command Focus Terminal View, which I have assigned to a keyboard shortcut (ctrl+shift+t). However, if the terminal is already open, I believe you can also use ctrl+’. Then hit alt+f2, and you will be placed in the accessibility view. This
acts as a read only edit field, which means you can copy from it.To get back to the terminal, I typically jump to the bottom of the accessibility view (ctrl+end), and then ctrl+down arrow moves back to the terminal.<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">You can type and run commands in the terminal, use autocomplete and so on. However, what you can not currently do very easily
is to scroll through the command history, edit a historical command, and rerun it. Therefore, if there are temporary commands to be run that aren’t required as part of a final script, I advise to have a second script open in the editor area, and run commands
from there instead. <u></u><u></u></span></li></ul>
<p class="m_6855655347154197562MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The settings are very customisable. Below is an extract from my settings.json, which you can find by searching for settings in the command pallet. If you search the settings (ctrl+,)
for accessibility, you will see the variety of accessibility-related customisations that can be made.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">{<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "workbench.startupEditor": "none",<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "window.menuBarVisibility": "compact",<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "R Terminal",<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.source.focus": "none",<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.plot.useHttpgd": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.bracketedPaste": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.sessionWatcher": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.alwaysUseActiveTerminal": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "r.plot.defaults.fullWindowMode": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "terminal.integrated.accessibleViewPreserveCursorPosition": true,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "accessibility.signals.save": {<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "announcement": "never"<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> },<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "editor.tabSize": 2,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> "accessibility.verbosity.terminal": false,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">}<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Please let me know if I can help further, either on or off list.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bests,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Robin<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #e1e1e1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> BlindRUG <<a href="mailto:blindrug-bounces@nfbnet.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">blindrug-bounces@nfbnet.org</a>>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Esteban Montenegro via BlindRUG<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 16 September 2024 18:54<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:blindrug@nfbnet.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">blindrug@nfbnet.org</a><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Esteban Montenegro <<a href="mailto:estebanmonte@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">estebanmonte@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [BlindRUG] VS Code setup for screen readers<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Greetings list members,<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I'm Esteban, I'm a faculty member at California State University, Stanislaus. Currently, I'm preparing materials to make my lectures and teaching method more accessible for screen readers. I teach statistics using R and RStudio, but I know
RStudio is not friendly with screen readers. <u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">As an alternative, I've been thinking to use VS Code to teach R, does any person in this list have attempted to use VS Code for teaching R? Do you use VS Code with screen readers? If so, would you share with me your setup and possible add-ons
for VS Code?<br clear="all">
<u></u><u></u></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, any recommendations on how to teach R and screen readers are always welcomed!<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Have a great week!<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="m_6855655347154197562gmailsignatureprefix">-------------</span><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p style="margin:0cm"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif;color:blue">Esteban Montenegro-Montenegro, PhD.</span></i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm">Assistant Professor</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm">Psychology and Child Development</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm">California State University, Stanislaus</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm">Stockton Campus</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm"><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/612+E+Magnolia+St,+Stockton,+CA+95202?entry=gmail&source=g">612 E Magnolia St, Stockton, CA 95202</a></span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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</blockquote></div>