I have been learning how to write functions in R. They are core to learning the language instead of just using what other people have written for their purposes. They make tailored manipulations in R easier. I am going to document the function writing system here, step by step so I can progressively write better functions and yet not forget the basics

Basic Syntax

NewFunction <- function (input){
answer <- some manipulation with the input
answer
}

• NewFunction is the name of the new function.
• function is the R function that creates functions.
• input is the "argument" of a function
• { delimits the beginning of the function
• } delimits the end of the function
• the last statement (in this case, just "answer", returns the answer as the output of the function. I could also have said return(answer).

It took me all this while to find out that one of my greatest annoyances in Gnome 3 is actually solvable by a simple change in position of my finger while typing the alt-tab combination.


Alt + Tab
Switches Applications

and

Alt + ~
Switches Windows


Reclaim the maximize and minimize buttion. Because sometimes, you just don't want to let go of the stylus (or mouse).

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/shell/windows/button_layout --type string :minimize,maximize,close

Sweet. Two more annoyances banished.

Sometimes you can only pamper it with so much olive oil.



It's delicious sans mucilage or not.

I found it. At last.



TortoiseSVN was so good on windows that I really started to miss its awesome GUI features on linux. The clever thing to do would probably have been to guess that it would be named after some other herbivorous domestic pet. But I found it after a determined search instead. Linux royalty usually scoff at GUI solutions, but to me, they are an invaluable little tool in saving some brainspace and frustrations.

To install RabbitVCS on Fedora 15

sudo yum install rabbitvcs*

BUT. And there is a big BUT.

RabbitVCS won't run in some 64 bit environments

Some distributions, such as 64 bit Fedora, put 64 bit libraries in the /usr/lib64 directory, whereas nautilus-python (the program that lets us extend nautilus) assumes all libraries are in the /usr/lib directory. This is a nautilus-python bug. The current workaround is to create a symlink: ln -s /usr/lib64/libpython2.6.so /usr/lib/libpython2.6.so

That fix didn't work for me because RabbitVCS doesn't work with Nautilus 3.x YET. But the developer posted recently on the blog that a new release is not far away. I can't wait. Command-lining SVN is tedium that I can do without.

I finally installed the Google talk plugin on Fedora 15 last night. I used the official x86_64 rpm package on the Google talk page. It pulled in a ton of dependencies. When I checked later, it had updated/installed all of these:

Oct 22 23:41:03 Installed: libgcc-4.6.1-9.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:04 Installed: nss-softokn-freebl-3.12.10-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:05 Installed: glibc-2.14-5.i686
Oct 22 23:41:06 Updated: audit-libs-2.1.3-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:07 Updated: glib2-2.28.8-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:07 Installed: zlib-1.2.5-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:08 Installed: libjpeg-turbo-1.1.1-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:09 Installed: freetype-2.4.4-5.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:09 Installed: libstdc++-4.6.1-9.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:10 Updated: libuuid-2.19.1-1.4.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:10 Updated: libblkid-2.19.1-1.4.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:11 Updated: libjpeg-turbo-1.1.1-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:11 Updated: krb5-libs-1.9.1-5.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:12 Installed: libtiff-3.9.5-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:12 Installed: 2:libpng-1.2.46-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:13 Installed: libgpg-error-1.9-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:14 Installed: libselinux-2.0.99-4.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:14 Installed: gamin-0.1.10-9.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:15 Installed: glib2-2.28.8-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:16 Installed: 2:libogg-1.2.2-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:16 Updated: 1:cups-libs-1.4.8-5.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:17 Installed: atk-2.0.0-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:17 Installed: libgcrypt-1.4.6-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:18 Installed: libICE-1.0.6-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:18 Installed: libcom_err-1.41.14-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:19 Installed: 1:dbus-libs-1.4.6-5.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:19 Updated: libmount-2.19.1-1.4.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:20 Updated: libXi-1.4.3-2.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:20 Installed: avahi-libs-0.6.30-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:20 Installed: 1:libvorbis-1.3.2-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:21 Installed: flac-1.2.1-6.fc12.i686
Oct 22 23:41:21 Installed: libsndfile-1.0.25-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:22 Installed: jasper-libs-1.900.1-17.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:23 Installed: libv4l-0.8.5-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:23 Installed: pixman-0.20.2-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:23 Installed: libXau-1.0.6-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:24 Installed: libxcb-1.7-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:24 Installed: libX11-1.4.3-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:25 Installed: libXrender-0.9.6-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:25 Installed: libXext-1.2.0-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:26 Installed: libXfixes-5.0-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:27 Installed: libXrandr-1.3.1-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:27 Installed: libXi-1.4.3-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:27 Installed: libXcomposite-0.4.3-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:28 Installed: gdk-pixbuf2-2.23.3-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:29 Installed: libXtst-1.2.0-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:30 Installed: libXdamage-1.1.3-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:31 Installed: libXcursor-1.1.11-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:32 Installed: libXinerama-1.1.1-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:33 Installed: xcb-util-0.3.6-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:34 Installed: expat-2.0.1-11.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:39 Installed: fontconfig-2.8.0-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:39 Installed: cairo-1.10.2-3.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:40 Installed: libXft-2.2.0-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:40 Installed: tcp_wrappers-libs-7.6-60.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:41 Installed: libuuid-2.19.1-1.4.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:42 Installed: libSM-1.2.0-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:43 Installed: alsa-lib-1.0.24-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:43 Installed: audit-libs-2.1.3-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:44 Installed: keyutils-libs-1.2-7.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:44 Installed: krb5-libs-1.9.1-5.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:45 Installed: libtasn1-2.7-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:45 Installed: gnutls-2.10.5-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:46 Installed: 1:cups-libs-1.4.8-5.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:47 Installed: libasyncns-0.8-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:47 Installed: pulseaudio-libs-0.9.22-5.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:48 Installed: libthai-0.1.14-4.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:49 Updated: util-linux-2.19.1-1.4.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:51 Updated: 1:cups-1.4.8-5.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:52 Updated: libv4l-0.8.5-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:52 Updated: audit-libs-python-2.1.3-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:53 Updated: audit-2.1.3-1.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:54 Installed: pango-1.28.4-1.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:56 Updated: gtk2-2.24.4-2.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:41:58 Installed: gtk2-2.24.4-2.fc15.i686
Oct 22 23:41:58 Updated: gtk2-immodule-xim-2.24.4-2.fc15.x86_64
Oct 22 23:42:00 Installed: google-talkplugin-2.3.2.0-1.x86_64

Notice how it has installed a ton of i686 libraries. Why? Is it a wrapper-based solution of some kind? Does that mean that there is really no native 64bit Google talk application for linux but only one that is wrapped and served on 64bit systems using i686 libraries?

Found an answer to this on... google forums.

Video Chat Eng. Blue, Google Employee said on 7/6/11:
The x86_64 google-talkplugin package currently contains one file which has not yet been fully ported to 64-bit. That file is 32-bit even in the x86_64 package, and as a result the package has some i686 dependencies. We are working toward a fully 64-bit version of google-talkplugin but in the meantime we recommend users to simply allow the package to install all of its dependencies.

Some? That looks like a tonload of i686 dependencies.