Preface

Being kind of a lazy, or efficient (depends on your point of view) person, I often like to have a book that contains almost all the common things one needs to do, so I can refer to it all the time, rather than searching around to find a piece here and another piece there. It is with this intention that I decided to write up this little handbook. The idea is to have things that a common R user, whose operating system is Windows, often encounters. As the title suggests, this little handbook is specifically targeted at Windows environments. Everything described in it should work in all versions¹ of windows, however as I do not have the means to test them on ALL of the versions, I cannot guarantee this. If you find anything that does not work on a particular version of Windows, please do let me know. It is also worth noting that a basic idea of the Windows environment is assumed. For example, I will NOT go and explain how you can find a file, or use a mouse, in Windows. This document is still evolving, therefore it will be greatly appreciated if you can provide suggestions. Currently I am planning on adding in a chapter on CygWin support during summer (in the Southern Hemisphere) 2002/2003. Enjoy reading...

Ko-Kang Wang
kwan022@stat.auckland.ac.nz