I just discovered Ra from Ubuntu repositories. Has anyone used it in actual projects? Have you encountered any problems and are there any trade offs with using Ra instead of R or JIT in general?
+6
A:
Well, I like it. But then it is in Ubuntu ... because I created the Debian package in the first place. And I feature Ra and jit in my 'Intro to High-Performance Computing with R' tutorials (next one on Tuesday at useR! 2010).
But sadly, Steven never got the feedback he anticipated and has stopped updating Ra. The most recent version is R 2.9.*, i.e. from a year ago. This would be worth keeping alive, but a few more people (with highly specialized knowledge) would need to appear on the scene to help...
Dirk Eddelbuettel
2010-07-16 16:52:03
Thanks for the packaging and for the answer. I had a look at your slides and it definitely seems interesting. Let's hope he'll find some help and keeps maintaining it.
Matti Pastell
2010-07-16 17:22:39
Is Luke Tierney working on some improvements to the R interpreter that may pave the way for things like JIT in the main R distribution?
Sharpie
2010-07-17 13:44:33
Yes he is. But the he has been for most of the last decade and you never know about ETAs. He has been in contact with Steve too though. Anyway, Luke will talk at useR! next week and mention some of this. But this is generally not 'hold your breath' material.
Dirk Eddelbuettel
2010-07-17 14:29:12