1 #+TITLE: org-babel --- facilitating communication between programming languages and people
2 #+SEQ_TODO: TODO PROPOSED STARTED | DONE DEFERRED REJECTED
3 #+OPTIONS: H:3 num:nil toc:t
4 #+STARTUP: oddeven hideblocks
6 Through Org-Babel Org-Mode can communicate with programming languages.
7 Code contained in source-code blocks can be evaluated and data can
8 pass seamlessly between different programming languages, Org-Mode
9 constructs (tables, file links, example text) and interactive comint
13 - The [[* Introduction][Introduction]] :: provides a brief overview of the design and use
14 of Org-Babel including tutorials and examples.
15 - In [[* Getting started][Getting Started]] :: find instructions for installing org-babel
16 into your emacs configuration.
17 - The [[* Tasks][Tasks]] :: section contains current and past tasks roughly ordered
18 by TODO state, then importance or date-completed. This would be
19 a good place to suggest ideas for development.
20 - The [[* Bugs][Bugs]] :: section contains bug reports.
21 - The [[* Tests][Tests]] :: section consists of a large table which can be
22 evaluated to run Org-Babel's functional test suite. This
23 provides a good overview of the current functionality with
24 pointers to example source blocks.
25 - The [[* Sandbox][Sandbox]] :: demonstrates much of the early/basic functionality
26 through commented source-code blocks.
28 Also see the [[file:library-of-babel.org][Library of Babel]], an extensible collection of ready-made
29 and easily-shortcut-callable source-code blocks for handling common
34 Org-Babel enables *communication* between programming languages and
38 - communication between programs :: Data passes seamlessly between
39 different programming languages, Org-Mode constructs (tables,
40 file links, example text) and interactive comint buffers.
41 - communication between people :: Data and calculations are embedded
42 in the same document as notes explanations and reports.
44 ** communication between programs
46 Org-Mode supports embedded blocks of source code (in any language)
47 inside of Org documents. Org-Babel allows these blocks of code to be
48 executed from within Org-Mode with natural handling of their inputs
52 with both scalar, file, and table output
54 *** reading information from tables
56 *** reading information from other source blocks (disk usage in your home directory)
58 This will work for Linux and Mac users, not so sure about shell
59 commands for windows users.
61 To run place the cursor on the =#+begin_src= line of the source block
62 labeled directory-pie and press =\C-c\C-c=.
64 #+srcname: directories
65 #+begin_src bash :results replace
66 cd ~ && du -sc * |grep -v total
69 #+resname: directories
71 | 11882808 | "Documents" |
72 | 8210024 | "Downloads" |
73 | 879800 | "Library" |
76 | 5307664 | "Pictures" |
85 #+srcname: directory-pie
86 #+begin_src R :var dirs = directories
87 pie(dirs[,1], labels = dirs[,2])
90 *** operations in/on tables
92 #+tblname: grades-table
93 | student | grade | letter |
94 |---------+-------+--------|
101 #+TBLFM: $2='(sbe random-score-generator)::$3='(sbe assign-grade (score $2))
103 #+srcname: assign-grade
104 #+begin_src ruby :var score=99
115 #+srcname: random-score-generator
120 #+srcname: show-distribution
121 #+begin_src R :var grades=grades-table
126 ** communication between people
127 Quick overview of Org-Mode's exportation abilities, with links to the
128 online Org-Mode documentation, a focus on source-code blocks, and the
129 exportation options provided by Org-Babel.
131 *** Interactive tutorial
132 This would demonstrate applicability to Reproducible Research, and
133 Literate Programming.
135 *** Tests embedded in documentation
136 org-babels own functional tests are contained in a large org-mode
137 table, allowing the test suite to be run be evaluation of the table
138 and the results to be collected in the same table.
140 *** Emacs initialization files stored in Org-Mode buffers
141 Once org-babel-tangle is completed this could be a very compelling use case.
146 *** code evaluation (comint buffer sessions and external processes)
147 There are two main ways to evaluate source blocks with org-babel.
149 - external :: By default (if the =:session= header argument is not
150 present) all source code blocks are evaluated in
151 external processes. In these cases an external process
152 is used to evaluate the source-code blocks.
153 - session :: Session based evaluation uses persistent sessions in
154 comint buffers. Sessions can be used across multiple
155 source blocks setting and accessing variables in the
158 Evaluating source blocks in sessions also allows for
159 interaction with the code. To jump to the session of a
160 source block use the `org-babel-pop-to-session' command
161 or press =M-[down]= while inside of a source code block.
162 When called with a prefix argument
163 `org-babel-pop-to-session' will evaluate all header
164 arguments before jumping to the source-code block.
166 *** results (values and outputs)
167 Either the *value* or the *output* of source code blocks can be
168 collected after evaluation.
170 - value :: The default way to collect results from a source-code block
171 is to return the value of the last statement in the block.
172 This can be thought of as the return value of the block.
173 In this case any printed output of the block is ignored.
174 This can be though of a similar to a "functional" value of
176 - output :: Another way of generating results from a source-code block
177 is to collect the output generated by the execution of the
178 block. In this case all printed output is collected
179 throughout the execution of the block. This can be
180 thought of as similar to a "script" style of evaluation.
184 Add the following lines to your .emacs, replacing the path as
185 appropriate. A good place to check that things are up and running
186 would then be [[#sandbox][the sandbox]].
187 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
188 (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/org-babel/lisp")
189 (require 'org-babel-init)
194 ** TODO support for working with =*Org Edit Src Example*= buffers [2/4]
195 *** TODO optionally evaluate header references when we switch to =*Org Edit Src*= buffer
196 That seems to imply that the header references need to be evaluated
197 and transformed into the target language object when we hit C-c ' to
198 enter the *Org Edit Src* buffer [DED]
200 Good point, I heartily agree that this should be supported [Eric]
202 (or at least before the first time we attempt to evaluate code in that
203 buffer -- I suppose there might be an argument for lazy evaluation, in
204 case someone hits C-c ' but is "just looking" and not actually
205 evaluating anything.) Of course if evaluating the reference is
206 computationally intensive then the user might have to wait before they
207 get the *Org Edit Src* buffer. [DED]
209 I fear that it may be hard to anticipate when the references will be
210 needed, some major-modes do on-the-fly evaluation while the buffer is
211 being edited. I think that we should either do this before the buffer
212 is opened or not at all, specifically I think we should resolve
213 references if the user calls C-c ' with a prefix argument. Does that
214 sound reasonable? [Eric]
218 [Dan] So now that we have org-src-mode and org-src-mode-hook, I guess
219 org-babel should do this by using the hook to make sure that, when C-c
220 C-' is issued on a source block, any references are resolved and
221 assignments are made in the appropriate session.
222 *** TODO set buffer-local-process variables appropriately [DED]
223 I think something like this would be great. You've probably
224 already thought of this, but just to note it down: it would be really
225 nice if org-babel's notion of a buffer's 'session/process' played
226 nicely with ESS's notion of the buffer's session/process. ESS keeps
227 the current process name for a buffer in a buffer-local variable
228 ess-local-process-name. So one thing we will probably want to do is
229 make sure that the *Org Edit Src Example* buffer sets that variable
232 I had not thought of that, but I agree whole heartedly. [Eric]
234 Once this is done every variable should be able to dump regions into
235 their inferior-process buffer using major-mode functions.
236 *** DEFERRED send code to inferior process
237 Another thought on this topic: I think we will want users to send
238 chunks of code to the interpreter from within the *Org Edit Src*
239 buffer, and I think that's what you have in mind already. In ESS that
240 is done using the ess-eval-* functions. [DED]
242 I think we can leave this up to the major-mode in the source code
243 buffer, as almost every source-code major mode will have functions for
244 doing things like sending regions to the inferior process. If
245 anything we might need to set the value of the buffer local inferior
246 process variable. [Eric]
248 *** DONE some possible requests/proposed changes for Carsten [4/4]
249 While I remember, some possible requests/proposed changes for Carsten
250 come to mind in that regard:
252 **** DONE Remap C-x C-s to save the source to the org buffer?
253 I've done this personally and I find it essential. I'm using
254 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
255 (defun org-edit-src-save ()
256 "Update the parent org buffer with the edited source code, save
257 the parent org-buffer, and return to the source code edit
266 (define-key org-exit-edit-mode-map "\C-x\C-s" 'org-edit-src-save)
270 I think this is great, but I think it should be implemented in the
273 **** DEFERRED Rename buffer and minor mode?
274 Something shorter than *Org Edit Src Example* for the buffer
275 name. org-babel is bringing org's source code interaction to a
276 level of maturity where the 'example' is no longer
277 appropriate. And if further keybindings are going to be added to
278 the minor mode then maybe org-edit-src-mode is a better name than
281 Maybe we should name the buffer with a combination of the source
282 code and the session. I think that makes sense.
284 [ES] Are you also suggesting a new org-edit-src minor mode?
285 [DED] org-exit-edit-mode is a minor mode that already exists:
287 Minor mode installing a single key binding, "C-c '" to exit special edit.
289 org-edit-src-save now has a binding in that mode, so I guess all
290 I'm saying at this stage is that it's a bit of a misnomer. But
291 perhaps we will also have more functionality to add to that minor
292 mode, making it even more of a misnomer. Perhaps something like
293 org-src-mode would be better.
294 **** DONE Changed minor mode name and added hooks
296 **** DEFERRED a hook called when the src edit buffer is created
297 This should be implemented in the org-mode core
299 ** TODO resolve references to other org buffers/files
300 This would allow source blocks to call upon tables, source-blocks,
301 and results in other org buffers/files.
304 - [[file:lisp/org-babel-ref.el::TODO%20allow%20searching%20for%20names%20in%20other%20buffers][org-babel-ref.el:searching-in-other-buffers]]
305 - [[file:lisp/org-babel.el::defun%20org-babel%20find%20named%20result%20name][org-babel.el#org-babel-find-named-result]]
306 ** TODO resolve references to other non-org files
307 - tabular data in .csv, .tsv etc format
308 - files of interpreted code: anything stopping us giving such files
309 similar status to a source code block?
310 - Would be nice to allow org and non-org files to be remote
311 ** TODO figure out how to handle errors during evaluation
312 R has a try function, with error handling, along the lines of
313 python. I bet ruby does too. Maybe more of an issue for functional
314 style; in my proposed scripting style the error just gets dumped to
315 the org buffer and the user is thus alerted.
316 ** TODO figure out how to handle graphic output
317 This is listed under [[* graphical output][graphical output]] in out objectives.
319 This should take advantage of the =:results file= option, and
320 languages which almost always produce graphical output should set
321 =:results file= to true by default. That would handle placing these
322 results in the buffer. Then if there is a combination of =silent= and
323 =file= =:results= headers we could drop the results to a temp buffer
324 and pop open that buffer...
326 ** TODO Finalise behaviour regarding vector/scalar output
327 *** DONE Stop spaces causing vector output
328 This simple example of multilingual chaining produces vector output if
329 there are spaces in the message and scalar otherwise.
333 #+begin_src R :var msg=msg-from-python
334 paste(msg, "und R", sep=" ")
338 : org-babel speaks elisp y python und R
340 #+srcname: msg-from-python
341 #+begin_src python :var msg=msg-from-elisp
345 #+srcname: msg-from-elisp
346 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var msg="org-babel speaks"
347 (concat msg " elisp")
349 ** STARTED share org-babel [1/4]
350 how should we share org-babel?
352 *** DONE post to org-mode
353 *** TODO post to ess mailing list
354 *** TODO create a org-babel page on worg
355 *** TODO create a short screencast demonstrating org-babel in action
358 we need to think up some good examples
360 **** interactive tutorials
361 This could be a place to use [[* org-babel assertions][org-babel assertions]].
363 for example the first step of a tutorial could assert that the version
364 of the software-package (or whatever) is equal to some value, then
365 source-code blocks could be used with confidence (and executed
366 directly from) the rest of the tutorial.
368 **** answering a text-book question w/code example
369 org-babel is an ideal environment enabling both the development and
370 demonstrationg of the code snippets required as answers to many
373 **** something using tables
374 maybe something along the lines of calculations from collected grades
377 Maybe something like the following which outputs sizes of directories
378 under the home directory, and then instead of the trivial =emacs-lisp=
379 block we could use an R block to create a nice pie chart of the
383 #+begin_src bash :results replace
387 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var sizes=sizes :results replace
391 ** TODO command line execution
392 Allow source code blocks to be called form the command line. This
393 will be easy using the =sbe= function in [[file:lisp/org-babel-table.el][org-babel-table.el]].
395 This will rely upon [[* resolve references to other buffers][resolve references to other buffers]].
397 ** TODO inline source code blocks [3/5]
398 Like the =\R{ code }= blocks
400 not sure what the format should be, maybe just something simple
401 like =src_lang[]{}= where lang is the name of the source code
402 language to be evaluated, =[]= is optional and contains any header
403 arguments and ={}= contains the code.
405 (see [[* (sandbox) inline source blocks][the-sandbox]])
407 *** DONE evaluation with \C-c\C-c
408 Putting aside the header argument issue for now we can just run these
409 with the following default header arguments
410 - =:results= :: silent
411 - =:exports= :: results
413 *** DONE inline exportation
414 Need to add an interblock hook (or some such) through org-exp-blocks
415 *** DONE header arguments
416 We should make it possible to use header arguments.
418 *** TODO fontification
419 we should color these blocks differently
421 *** TODO refine html exportation
422 should use a span class, and should show original source in tool-tip
424 ** TODO formulate general rules for handling vectors and tables / matrices with names
425 This is non-trivial, but may be worth doing, in particular to
426 develop a nice framework for sending data to/from R.
428 In R, indexing vector elements, and rows and columns, using
429 strings rather than integers is an important part of the
431 - elements of a vector may have names
432 - matrices and data.frames may have "column names" and "row names"
433 which can be used for indexing
434 - In a data frame, row names *must* be unique
442 > mat <- matrix(1:4, nrow=2, ncol=2, dimnames=list(c("r1","r2"), c("c1","c2")))
447 > # The names are separate from the data: they do not interfere with operations on the data
454 > df <- data.frame(var1=1:26, var2=26:1, row.names=letters)
456 [1] 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
462 So it's tempting to try to provide support for this in org-babel. For example
463 - allow R to refer to columns of a :var reference by their names
464 - When appropriate, results from R appear in the org buffer with "named
467 However none (?) of the other languages we are currently supporting
468 really have a native matrix type, let alone "column names" or "row
469 names". Names are used in e.g. python and perl to refer to entries
472 It currently seems to me that support for this in org-babel would
473 require setting rules about when org tables are considered to have
474 named columns/fields, and ensuring that (a) languages with a notion
475 of named columns/fields use them appropriately and (b) languages
476 with no such notion do not treat then as data.
478 - Org allows something that *looks* like column names to be separated
480 - Org also allows a row to *function* as column names when special
481 markers are placed in the first column. An hline is unnecessary
482 (indeed hlines are purely cosmetic in org [correct?]
483 - Org does not have a notion of "row names" [correct?]
485 The full org table functionality exeplified [[http://orgmode.org/manual/Advanced-features.html#Advanced-features][here]] has features that
486 we would not support in e.g. R (like names for the row below).
488 *** Initial statement: allow tables with hline to be passed as args into R
489 This doesn't seem to work at the moment (example below). It would
490 also be nice to have a natural way for the column names of the org
491 table to become the column names of the R data frame, and to have
492 the option to specify that the first column is to be used as row
493 names in R (these must be unique). But this might require a bit of
498 | col1 | col2 | col3 |
499 |------+---------+------|
507 #+begin_src R var tabel=egtable
512 | "col1" | "col2" | "col3" |
513 |--------+-----------+--------|
515 | 4 | "schulte" | 6 |
518 Another example is in the [[*operations%20in%20on%20tables][grades example]].
520 ** TODO re-implement helper functions from org-R
521 *** Initial statement [Eric]
522 Much of the power of org-R seems to be in it's helper functions for
523 the quick graphing of tables. Should we try to re-implement these
524 functions on top of org-babel?
526 I'm thinking this may be useful both to add features to org-babel-R and
527 also to potentially suggest extensions of the framework. For example
528 one that comes to mind is the ability to treat a source-code block
529 like a function which accepts arguments and returns results. Actually
530 this can be it's own TODO (see [[* source blocks as functions][source blocks as functions]]).
532 - We want to provide convenient off-the-shelf actions
533 (e.g. plotting data) that make use of our new code evaluation
534 environment but do not require any actual coding.
535 *** Initial Design proposal [Dan]
536 - *Input data* will be specified using the same mechanism as :var
537 references, thus the input data may come from a table, or
538 another source block, and it is initially available as an elisp
540 - We introduce a new #+ line, e.g. #+BABELDO. C-c C-c on that
541 line will apply an *action* to the referenced data.
542 - *Actions correspond to source blocks*: our library of available
543 actions will be a library of org-babel source blocks. Thus the
544 code for executing an action, and the code for dealing with the
545 output of the action will be the same code as for executing
546 source blocks in general
547 - Optionally, the user can have the relevant source block inserted
548 into the org buffer after the (say) #+BABELDO line. This will
549 allow the user to fine tune the action by modifying the code
550 (especially useful for plots).
551 - So maybe a #+BABELDO line will have header args
552 - :data (a reference to a table or source code block)
553 - :action (or should that be :srcname?) which will be something
554 like :action pie-chart, referring to a source block which will
555 be executed with the :data referent passed in using a :var arg.
556 - :showcode or something controlling whether to show the code
558 *** Modification to design
559 I'm implementing this, at least initially, as a new interpreter
560 named 'babel', which has an empty body. 'babel' blocks take
561 a :srcname header arg, and look for the source-code block with
562 that name. They then execute the referenced block, after first
563 appending their own header args on to the target block's header
566 If the target block is in the library of babel (a.o.t. e.g. the
567 current buffer), then the code in the block will refer to the
568 input data with a name dictated by convention (e.g. __data__
569 (something which is syntactically legal in all languages...). Thus
570 the babel block will use a :var __data__ = whatever header arg to
571 reference the data to be plotted.
574 This is covered by the [[file:library-of-babel.org][Library of Babel]], which will contain
575 ready-made source blocks designed to carry out useful common tasks.
577 ** PROPOSED Are we happy with current behaviour regarding vector/scalar output?
578 This simple example of multilingual chaining produces vector output if
579 there are spaces in the message and scalar otherwise.
581 #+begin_src R :var msg=msg-from-python
582 paste(msg, "und_R", sep="_")
585 #+srcname: msg-from-python
586 #+begin_src python :var msg=msg-from-elisp
590 #+srcname: msg-from-elisp
591 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var msg="org-babel_speaks"
592 (concat msg "_elisp")
595 ** PROPOSED conversion between org-babel and noweb (e.g. .Rnw) format
596 I haven't thought about this properly. Just noting it down. What
597 Sweave uses is called "R noweb" (.Rnw).
599 I found a good description of noweb in the following article (see
600 the [[http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/pubs/lpsimp.pdf][pdf]]).
602 I think there are two parts to noweb, the construction of
603 documentation and the extraction of source-code (with notangle).
605 *documentation*: org-mode handles all of our documentation needs in
606 a manner that I believe is superior to noweb.
608 *source extraction* At this point I don't see anyone writing large
609 applications with 100% of the source code contained in org-babel
610 files, rather I see org-babel files containing things like
611 - notes with active code chunks
612 - interactive tutorials
613 - requirements documents with code running test suites
614 - and of course experimental reports with the code to run the
615 experiment, and perform analysis
617 Basically I think the scope of the programs written in org-babel
618 (at least initially) will be small enough that it wont require the
619 addition of a tangle type program to extract all of the source code
620 into a running application.
622 On the other hand, since we already have named blocks of source
623 code which reference other blocks on which they rely, this
624 shouldn't be too hard to implement either on our own, or possibly
625 relying on something like noweb/notangle.
627 ** PROPOSED support for passing paths to files between source blocks
628 Maybe this should be it's own result type (in addition to scalars and
629 vectors). The reason being that some source-code blocks (for example
630 ditaa or anything that results in the creation of a file) may want to
631 pass a file path back to org-mode which could then be inserted into
632 the org-mode buffer as a link to the file...
634 This would allow for display of images upon export providing
635 functionality similar to =org-exp-blocks= only in a more general
638 ** DEFERRED use textConnection to pass tsv to R?
639 When passing args from the org buffer to R, the following route is
640 used: arg in buffer -> elisp -> tsv on file -> data frame in R. I
641 think it would be possible to avoid having to write to file by
642 constructing an R expression in org-babel-R-assign-elisp, something
645 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
646 (org-babel-R-input-command
647 (format "%s <- read.table(textConnection(\"%s\"), sep=\"\\t\", as.is=TRUE)"
648 name (orgtbl-to-tsv value '(:sep "\t" :fmt org-babel-R-quote-tsv-field))))
651 I haven't tried to implement this yet as it's basically just
652 fiddling with something that works. The only reason for it I can
653 think of would be efficiency and I haven't tested that.
655 This Didn't work after an initial test. I still think this is a
656 good idea (I also think we should try to do something similar when
657 writing out results frmo R to elisp) however as it wouldn't result
658 in any functional changes I'm bumping it down to deferred for
663 #+tblname: quick-test
666 #+srcname: quick-test-src-blk
667 #+begin_src R :var vec=quick-test
673 ** DEFERRED re-implement R evaluation using ess-command or ess-execute
674 I don't have any complaints with the current R evaluation code or
675 behaviour, but I think it would be good to use the ESS functions
676 from a political point of view. Plus of course it has the normal
677 benefits of an API (insulates us from any underlying changes etc). [DED]
679 I'll look into this. I believe that I looked at and rejected these
680 functions initially but now I can't remember why. I agree with
681 your overall point about using API's where available. I will take
682 a look back at these and either switch to using the ess commands,
683 or at least articulate under this TODO the reasons for using our
684 custom R-interaction commands. [Eric]
688 Lets just replace =org-babel-R-input-command= with =ess-execute=.
690 I tried this, and although it works in some situations, I find that
691 =ess-command= will often just hang indefinitely without returning
692 results. Also =ess-execute= will occasionally hang, and pops up
693 the buffer containing the results of the command's execution, which
694 is undesirable. For now these functions can not be used. Maybe
695 someone more familiar with the ESS code can recommend proper usage
696 of =ess-command= or some other lower-level function which could be
697 used in place of [[file:lisp/org-babel-R.el::defun%20org-babel%20R%20input%20command%20command][org-babel-R-input-command]].
701 #+begin_quote ess-command
702 (ess-command COM &optional BUF SLEEP NO-PROMPT-CHECK)
704 Send the ESS process command COM and delete the output
705 from the ESS process buffer. If an optional second argument BUF exists
706 save the output in that buffer. BUF is erased before use.
707 COM should have a terminating newline.
708 Guarantees that the value of .Last.value will be preserved.
709 When optional third arg SLEEP is non-nil, `(sleep-for (* a SLEEP))'
710 will be used in a few places where `a' is proportional to `ess-cmd-delay'.
713 #+begin_quote ess-execute
714 (ess-execute COMMAND &optional INVERT BUFF MESSAGE)
716 Send a command to the ESS process.
717 A newline is automatically added to COMMAND. Prefix arg (or second arg
718 INVERT) means invert the meaning of
719 `ess-execute-in-process-buffer'. If INVERT is 'buffer, output is
720 forced to go to the process buffer. If the output is going to a
721 buffer, name it *BUFF*. This buffer is erased before use. Optional
722 fourth arg MESSAGE is text to print at the top of the buffer (defaults
723 to the command if BUFF is not given.)
726 *** out current setup
728 1) The body of the R source code block is wrapped in a function
729 2) The function is called inside of a =write.table= function call
730 writing the results to a table
731 3) The table is read using =org-table-import=
733 ** DEFERRED Rework Interaction with Running Processes [2/5]
734 *** DONE robust to errors interrupting execution
736 #+srcname: long-runner-ruby
737 #+begin_src ruby :results silent
742 *** DEFERRED use =C-g= keyboard-quit to push processing into the background
743 This may be possible using the `run-with-timer' command.
745 I have no idea how this could work...
747 #+srcname: long-runner-ruby
748 #+begin_src ruby :results silent
753 *** TODO ability to select which of multiple sessions is being used
754 Increasingly it is looking like we're going to want to run all
755 source code blocks in comint buffer (sessions). Which will have
757 1) allowing background execution
758 2) maintaining state between source-blocks
759 - allowing inline blocks w/o header arguments
762 (like ess-switch-process in .R buffers)
764 Maybe this could be packaged into a header argument, something
765 like =:R_session= which could accept either the name of the
766 session to use, or the string =prompt=, in which case we could use
767 the =ess-switch-process= command to select a new process.
769 *** TODO evaluation of shell code as background process?
770 After C-c C-c on an R code block, the process may appear to
771 block, but C-g can be used to reclaim control of the .org buffer,
772 without interrupting the R evalution. However I believe this is not
773 true of bash/sh evaluation. [Haven't tried other languages] Perhaps
774 a solution is just to background the individual shell commands.
776 The other languages (aside from emacs lisp) are run through the
777 shell, so if we find a shell solution it should work for them as
780 Adding an ampersand seems to be a supported way to run commands in
781 the background (see [[http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ExecuteExternalCommand#toc4][external-commands]]). Although a more extensible
782 solution may involve the use of the [[elisp:(progn (describe-function 'call-process-region) nil)][call-process-region]] function.
784 Going to try this out in a new file [[file:lisp/org-babel-proc.el][org-babel-proc.el]]. This should
785 contain functions for asynchronously running generic shell commands
786 in the background, and then returning their input.
788 **** partial update of org-mode buffer
789 The sleekest solution to this may be using a comint buffer, and
790 then defining a filter function which would incrementally interpret
791 the results as they are returned, including insertion into the
792 org-mode buffer. This may actually cause more problems than it is
793 worth, what with the complexities of identifying the types of
794 incrementally returned results, and the need for maintenance of a
795 process marker in the org buffer.
797 **** 'working' spinner
798 It may be nice and not too difficult to place a spinner on/near the
799 evaluating source code block
801 *** TODO conversion of output from interactive shell, R (and python) sessions to org-babel buffers
802 [DED] This would be a nice feature I think. Although an org-babel
803 purist would say that it's working the wrong way round... After
804 some interactive work in a *R* buffer, you save the buffer, maybe
805 edit out some lines, and then convert it to org-babel format for
806 posterity. Same for a shell session either in a *shell* buffer, or
807 pasted from another terminal emulator. And python of course.
809 ** DEFERRED improve the source-block snippet
810 any real improvement seems somewhat beyond the ability of yasnippet
813 [[file:~/src/emacs-starter-kit/src/snippets/text-mode/rst-mode/chap::name%20Chapter%20title][file:~/src/emacs-starter-kit/src/snippets/text-mode/rst-mode/chap::name Chapter title]]
815 ,#name : Chapter title
818 ${1:$(make-string (string-width text) ?\=)}
823 [[file:snippets/org-mode/sb][sb -- snippet]]
825 waiting for guidance from those more familiar with yasnippets
826 ** DONE add a function to jump to a source-block by name
827 I've had an initial stab at that in org-babel-find-named-block
828 (library-of-babel branch).
830 At the same time I introduced org-babel-named-src-block-regexp, to
831 match src-blocks with srcname.
833 This is now working with the command
834 `org-babel-goto-named-source-block', all we need is a good key
837 ** DONE add =:none= session argument (for purely functional execution) [4/4]
838 This would allow source blocks to be run in their own new process
840 - These blocks could then also be run in the background (since we can
841 detach and just wait for the process to signal that it has terminated)
842 - We wouldn't be drowning in session buffers after running the tests
843 - we can re-use much of the session code to run in a more /functional/
846 While session provide a lot of cool features, like persistent
847 environments, [[* DONE function to bring up inferior-process buffer][pop-to-session]], and hints at exportation for
848 org-babel-tangle, they also have some down sides and I'm thinking that
849 session-based execution maybe shouldn't be the default behavior.
851 Down-sides to sessions
852 - *much* more complicated than functional evaluation
853 - maintaining the state of the session has weird issues
854 - waiting for evaluation to finish
855 - prompt issues like [[* TODO weird escaped characters in shell prompt break shell evaluation][shell-prompt-escapes-bug]]
856 - can't run in background
857 - litter emacs with session buffers
861 #+srcname: ruby-task-no-session
862 #+begin_src ruby :results replace output
868 #+resname: ruby-task-no-session
873 #+srcname: task-python-none-session
874 #+begin_src python :session none :results replace value
880 #+resname: task-python-none-session
885 #+srcname: task-session-none-sh
886 #+begin_src sh :results replace
891 #+resname: task-session-none-sh
897 #+srcname: task-no-session-R
898 #+begin_src R :results replace output
905 #+resname: task-no-session-R
909 ** DONE fully purge org-babel-R of direct comint interaction
910 try to remove all code under the [[file:lisp/org-babel-R.el::functions%20for%20evaluation%20of%20R%20code][;; functions for evaluation of R code]] line
912 ** DONE Create objects in top level (global) environment [5/5]
915 *** initial requirement statement [DED]
916 At the moment, objects created by computations performed in the
917 code block are evaluated in the scope of the
918 code-block-function-body and therefore disappear when the code
919 block is evaluated {unless you employ some extra trickery like
920 assign('name', object, env=globalenv()) }. I think it will be
921 desirable to also allow for a style wherein objects that are
922 created in one code block persist in the R global environment and
923 can be re-used in a separate block.
925 This is what Sweave does, and while I'm not saying we have to be
926 the same as Sweave, it wouldn't be hard for us to provide the same
927 behaviour in this case; if we don't, we risk undeservedly being
928 written off as an oddity by some.
930 IOW one aspect of org-babel is that of a sort of functional
931 meta-programming language. This is crazy, in a very good
932 way. Nevertheless, wrt R I think there's going to be a lot of value
933 in providing for a working style in which the objects are stored in
934 the R session, rather than elisp/org buffer. This will be a very
935 familiar working style to lots of people.
937 There are no doubt a number of different ways of accomplishing
938 this, the simplest being a hack like adding
942 assign(objname, get(objname), envir=globalenv())
945 to the source code block function body. (Maybe wrap it in an on.exit() call).
947 However this may deserve to be thought about more carefully, perhaps
948 with a view to having a uniform approach across languages. E.g. shell
949 code blocks have the same semantics at the moment (no persistence of
950 variables across code blocks), because the body is evaluated in a new
951 bash shell process rather than a running shell. And I guess the same
952 is true for python. However, in both these cases, you could imagine
953 implementing the alternative in which the body is evaluated in a
954 persistent interactive session. It's just that it's particularly
955 natural for R, seeing as both ESS and org-babel evaluate commands in a
956 single persistent R session.
960 Thanks for bringing this up. I think you are absolutely correct that we
961 should provide support for a persistent environment (maybe called a
962 *session*) in which to evaluate code blocks. I think the current setup
963 demonstrates my personal bias for a functional style of programming
964 which is certainly not ideal in all contexts.
966 While the R function you mention does look like an elegant solution, I
967 think we should choose an implementation that would be the same across
968 all source code types. Specifically I think we should allow the user to
969 specify an optional *session* as a header variable (when not present we
970 assume a default session for each language). The session name could be
971 used to name a comint buffer (like the *R* buffer) in which all
972 evaluation would take place (within which variables would retain their
973 values --at least once I remove some of the functional method wrappings
974 currently in place-- ).
976 This would allow multiple environments to be used in the same buffer,
977 and once this setup was implemented we should be able to fairly easily
978 implement commands for jumping between source code blocks and the
979 related session buffers, as well as for dumping the last N commands from
980 a session into a new or existing source code block.
982 Please let me know if you foresee any problems with this proposed setup,
983 or if you think any parts might be confusing for people coming from
984 Sweave. I'll hopefully find some time to work on this later in the
987 *** can functional and interpreted/interactive models coexist?
989 Even though both of these use the same =*R*= buffer the value of =a=
990 is not preserved because it is assigned inside of a functional
993 #+srcname: task-R-sessions
1000 #+srcname: task-R-same-session
1005 This functional wrapper was implemented in order to efficiently return
1006 the results of the execution of the entire source code block. However
1007 it inhibits the evaluation of source code blocks in the top level,
1008 which would allow for persistence of variable assignment across
1009 evaluations. How can we allow *both* evaluation in the top level, and
1010 efficient capture of the return value of an entire source code block
1011 in a language independent manner?
1013 Possible solutions...
1014 1) we can't so we will have to implement two types of evaluation
1015 depending on which is appropriate (functional or imperative)
1016 2) we remove the functional wrapper and parse the source code block
1017 into it's top level statements (most often but not always on line
1018 breaks) so that we can isolate the final segment which is our
1020 3) we add some sort of "#+return" line to the code block
1021 4) we take advantage of each languages support for meta-programming
1022 through =eval= type functions, and use said to evaluate the entire
1023 blocks in such a way that their environment can be combined with the
1024 global environment, and their results are still captured.
1025 5) I believe that most modern languages which support interactive
1026 sessions have support for a =last_result= type function, which
1027 returns the result of the last input without re-calculation. If
1028 widely enough present this would be the ideal solution to a
1029 combination of functional and imperative styles.
1031 None of these solutions seem very desirable, but for now I don't see
1032 what else would be possible.
1034 Of these options I was leaning towards (1) and (4) but now believe
1035 that if it is possible option (5) will be ideal.
1037 **** (1) both functional and imperative evaluation
1039 - can take advantage of built in functions for sending regions to the
1041 - retains the proven tested and working functional wrappers
1044 - introduces the complication of keeping track of which type of
1045 evaluation is best suited to a particular context
1046 - the current functional wrappers may require some changes in order to
1047 include the existing global context
1049 **** (4) exploit language meta-programming constructs to explicitly evaluate code
1051 - only one type of evaluation
1054 - some languages may not have sufficient meta-programming constructs
1056 **** (5) exploit some =last_value= functionality if present
1058 Need to ensure that most languages have such a function, those without
1059 will simply have to implement their own similar solution...
1061 | language | =last_value= function |
1062 |------------+-----------------------------|
1066 | shell | see [[* last command for shells][last command for shells]] |
1067 | emacs-lisp | see [[* emacs-lisp will be a special case][special-case]] |
1069 #+srcname: task-last-value
1074 ***** last command for shells
1075 Do this using the =tee= shell command, and continually pipe the output
1078 Got this idea from the following [[http://linux.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/Fedora/2004-01/0898.html][email-thread]].
1080 suggested from mailing list
1082 #+srcname: bash-save-last-output-to-file
1086 bash -c "$line" | tee /tmp/last.out1
1087 mv /tmp/last.out1 /tmp/last.out
1091 another proposed solution from the above thread
1093 #+srcname: bash-save-in-variable
1096 # so - Save Output. Saves output of command in OUT shell variable.
1106 "^M": " | tee /tmp/h_lastcmd.out ^[k"
1109 export __=/tmp/h_lastcmd.out
1111 If you try it, Alt-k will stand for the old Enter; use "command $__" to
1112 access the last output.
1118 Herculano de Lima Einloft Neto
1121 ***** emacs-lisp will be a special case
1122 While it is possible for emacs-lisp to be run in a console type
1123 environment (see the =elim= function) it is *not* possible to run
1124 emacs-lisp in a different *session*. Meaning any variable set top
1125 level of the console environment will be set *everywhere* inside
1126 emacs. For this reason I think that it doesn't make any sense to
1127 worry about session support for emacs-lisp.
1129 *** Further thoughts on 'scripting' vs. functional approaches
1131 These are just thoughts, I don't know how sure I am about this.
1132 And again, perhaps I'm not saying anything very radical, just that
1133 it would be nice to have some options supporting things like
1134 receiving text output in the org buffer.
1136 I can see that you've already gone some way down the road towards
1137 the 'last value' approach, so sorry if my comments come rather
1138 late. I am concerned that we are not giving sufficient attention
1139 to stdout / the text that is returned by the interpreters. In
1140 contrast, many of our potential users will be accustomed to a
1141 'scripting' approach, where they are outputting text at various
1142 points in the code block, not just at the end. I am leaning
1143 towards thinking that we should have 2 modes of evaluation:
1144 'script' mode, and 'functional' mode.
1146 In script mode, evaluation of a code block would result in *all*
1147 text output from that code block appearing as output in the org
1148 buffer, presumably as an #+begin_example...#+end_example. There
1149 could be an :echo option controlling whether the input commands
1150 also appear in the output. [This is like Sweave].
1152 In functional mode, the *result* of the code block is available as
1153 an elisp object, and may appear in the org buffer as an org
1154 table/string, via the mechanisms you have developed already.
1156 One thing I'm wondering about is whether, in script mode, there
1157 simply should not be a return value. Perhaps this is not so
1158 different from what exists: script mode would be new, and what
1159 exists currently would be functional mode.
1161 I think it's likely that, while code evaluation will be exciting
1162 to people, a large majority of our users in a large majority of
1163 their usage will not attempt to actually use the return value from
1164 a source code block in any meaningful way. In that case, it seems
1165 rather restrictive to only allow them to see output from the end
1168 Instead I think the most accessible way to introduce org-babel to
1169 people, at least while they are learning it, is as an immensely
1170 powerful environment in which to embed their 'scripts', which now
1171 also allows them to 'run' their 'scripts'. Especially as such
1172 people are likely to be the least capable of the user-base, a
1173 possible design-rule would be to make the scripting style of usage
1174 easy (default?), perhaps requiring a special option to enable a
1175 functional style. Those who will use the functional style won't
1176 have a problem understanding what's going on, whereas the 'skript
1177 kiddies' might not even know the syntax for defining a function in
1178 their language of choice. And of course we can allow the user to
1179 set a variable in their .emacs controlling the preference, so that
1180 functional users are not inconveniennced by having to provide
1181 header args the whole time.
1183 Please don't get the impression that I am down-valuing the
1184 functional style of org-babel. I am constantly horrified at the
1185 messy 'scripts' that my colleagues produce in perl or R or
1186 whatever! Nevertheless that seems to be how a lot of people work.
1188 I think you were leaning towards the last-value approach because
1189 it offered the possibility of unified code supporting both the
1190 single evaluation environment and the functional style. If you
1191 agree with any of the above then perhaps it will impact upon this
1192 and mean that the code in the two branches has to differ a bit. In
1193 that case, functional mode could perhaps after all evaluate each
1194 code block in its own environment, thus (re)approaching 'true'
1195 functional programming (side-effects are hard to achieve).
1199 echo "There are `wc -l files` files in this directory"
1203 *** even more thoughts on evaluation, results, models and options
1205 Thanks Dan, These comments are invaluable.
1207 What do you think about this as a new list of priorities/requirements
1208 for the execution of source-code blocks.
1211 1) we want the evaluation of the source code block to take place in a
1212 session which can persist state (variables, current directory,
1214 2) source code blocks can specify their session with a header argument
1215 3) each session should correspond to an Emacs comint buffer so that the
1216 user can drop into the session and experiment with live code
1219 1) each source-code block generates some form of results which (as
1220 we have already implemented) is transfered into emacs-lisp
1221 after which it can be inserted into the org-mode buffer, or
1222 used by other source-code blocks
1223 2) when the results are translated into emacs-lisp, forced to be
1224 interpreted as a scalar (dumping their raw values into the
1225 org-mode buffer), as a vector (which is often desirable with R
1226 code blocks), or interpreted on the fly (the default option).
1227 Note that this is very nearly currently implemented through the
1228 [[* DONE results-type header (vector/file)][results-type-header]].
1229 3) there should be *two* means of collecting results from the
1230 execution of a source code block. *Either* the value of the
1231 last statement of the source code block, or the collection of
1232 all that has been passed to STDOUT during the evaluation.
1234 **** header argument or return line (*header argument*)
1236 Rather than using a header argument to specify how the return value
1237 should be passed back, I'm leaning towards the use of a =#+RETURN=
1238 line inside the block. If such a line *is not present* then we
1239 default to using STDOUT to collect results, but if such a line *is
1240 present* then we use it's value as the results of the block. I
1241 think this will allow for the most elegant specification between
1242 functional and script execution. This also cleans up some issues
1243 of implementation and finding which statement is the last
1246 Having given this more thought, I think a header argument is
1247 preferable. The =#+return:= line adds new complicating syntax for
1248 something that does little more than we would accomplish through
1249 the addition of a header argument. The only benefit being that we
1250 know where the final statement starts, which is not an issue in
1251 those languages which contain 'last value' operators.
1253 new header =:results= arguments
1254 - script :: explicitly states that we want to use STDOUT to
1255 initialize our results
1256 - return_last :: stdout is ignored instead the *value* of the final
1257 statement in the block is returned
1258 - echo :: means echo the contents of the source-code block along
1259 with the results (this implies the *script* =:results=
1262 *** DONE rework evaluation lang-by-lang [4/4]
1264 This should include...
1265 - functional results working with the comint buffer
1267 - script :: return the output of STDOUT
1268 - write a macro which runs the first redirection, executes the
1269 body, then runs the second redirection
1270 - last :: return the value of the last statement
1273 - sessions in comint buffers
1275 **** DONE Ruby [4/4]
1276 - [X] functional results working with comint
1277 - [X] script results
1278 - [X] ensure scalar/vector results args are taken into consideration
1279 - [X] ensure callable by other source block
1281 #+srcname: ruby-use-last-output
1282 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
1289 #+resname: ruby-use-last-output
1292 #+srcname: task-call-use-last-output
1293 #+begin_src ruby :var last=ruby-use-last-output :results replace
1294 last.flatten.size + 1
1297 #+resname: task-call-use-last-output
1302 #+srcname: first-ruby-session-task
1303 #+begin_src ruby :session schulte :results silent
1307 #+srcname: second-ruby-session-task
1308 #+begin_src ruby :session schulte :results silent
1312 #+srcname: without-the-right-session
1313 #+begin_src ruby :results silent
1319 - [X] functional results working with comint
1320 - [X] script results
1321 - [X] ensure scalar/vector results args are taken into consideration
1322 - [X] ensure callable by other source block
1324 To redirect output to a file, you can use the =sink()= command.
1327 #+begin_src R :results value vector silent
1334 #+srcname: task-R-use-other-output
1335 #+begin_src R :var twoentyseven=task_R_B() :results replace value
1340 #+resname: task-R-use-other-output
1343 **** DONE Python [4/4]
1344 - [X] functional results working with comint
1345 - [X] script results
1346 - [X] ensure scalar/vector results args are taken into consideration
1347 - [X] ensure callable by other source block
1349 #+srcname: task-new-eval-for-python
1350 #+begin_src python :results silent output scalar
1356 #+srcname: task-use-new-eval
1357 #+begin_src python :var tasking=task-new-eval-for-python() :results replace
1361 #+resname: task-use-new-eval
1364 **** DONE Shells [4/4]
1365 - [X] functional results working with comint
1366 - [X] script results
1367 - [X] ensure scalar/vector results args are taken into consideration
1368 - [X] ensure callable by other source block
1370 #+srcname: task-shell-new-evaluation
1371 #+begin_src sh :results silent value scalar
1376 #+srcname: task-call-other-shell
1377 #+begin_src sh :var other=task-shell-new-evaluation() :results replace scalar
1378 echo $other ' is the old date'
1381 #+resname: task-call-other-shell
1382 : $ Fri Jun 12 13:08:37 PDT 2009 is the old date
1384 *** DONE implement a *session* header argument [4/4]
1385 =:session= header argument to override the default *session* buffer
1389 #+srcname: task-ruby-named-session
1390 #+begin_src ruby :session schulte :results replace
1391 schulte = :in_schulte
1394 #+resname: task-ruby-named-session
1397 #+srcname: another-in-schulte
1398 #+begin_src ruby :session schulte
1402 #+resname: another-in-schulte
1409 #+srcname: python-session-task
1410 #+begin_src python :session what :results silent
1414 #+srcname: python-get-from-session
1415 #+begin_src python :session what :results replace
1419 #+resname: python-get-from-session
1424 #+srcname: task-shell-sessions
1425 #+begin_src sh :session what
1429 #+srcname: task-shell-sessions-what
1430 #+begin_src sh :session what :results replace
1434 #+resname: task-shell-sessions-what
1439 #+srcname: task-R-session
1440 #+begin_src R :session what :results replace
1446 #+resname: task-R-session
1449 #+srcname: another-task-R-session
1450 #+begin_src R :session what :results replace
1454 *** DONE function to bring up inferior-process buffer [4/4]
1456 This should be callable from inside of a source-code block in an
1457 org-mode buffer. It should evaluate the header arguments, then bring
1458 up the inf-proc buffer using =pop-to-buffer=.
1460 For lack of a better place, lets add this to the `org-metadown-hook'
1463 To give this a try, place the cursor on a source block with variables,
1464 (optionally git a prefix argument) then hold meta and press down.
1468 #+srcname: task-ruby-pop-to-session
1469 #+begin_src ruby :var num=9 :var another="something else"
1470 num.times{|n| puts another}
1475 #+srcname: task-python-pop-to-session
1476 #+begin_src python :var num=9 :var another="something else"
1481 #+srcname: task-R-pop-to-session
1482 #+begin_src R :var a=9 :var b=8
1488 #+srcname: task-shell-pop-sessions
1489 #+begin_src sh :var NAME="eric"
1493 *** DEFERRED function to dump last N lines from inf-proc buffer into the current source block
1495 Callable with a prefix argument to specify how many lines should be
1496 dumped into the source-code buffer.
1498 *** REJECTED comint notes
1500 Implementing comint integration in [[file:lisp/org-babel-comint.el][org-babel-comint.el]].
1503 - handling of outputs
1504 - split raw output from process by prompts
1505 - a ring of the outputs, buffer-local, `org-babel-comint-output-ring'
1506 - a switch for dumping all outputs to a buffer
1507 - inputting commands
1509 Lets drop all this language specific stuff, and just use
1510 org-babel-comint to split up our outputs, and return either the last
1511 value of an execution or the combination of values from the
1514 **** comint filter functions
1515 : ;; comint-input-filter-functions hook process-in-a-buffer
1516 : ;; comint-output-filter-functions hook function modes.
1517 : ;; comint-preoutput-filter-functions hook
1518 : ;; comint-input-filter function ...
1520 #+srcname: obc-filter-ruby
1521 #+begin_src ruby :results last
1529 ** DONE Remove protective commas from # comments before evaluating
1530 org inserts protective commas in front of ## comments in language
1531 modes that use them. We need to remove them prior to sending code
1534 #+srcname: testing-removal-of-protective-comas
1536 ,# this one might break it??
1540 ** DONE pass multiple reference arguments into R
1541 Can we do this? I wasn't sure how to supply multiple 'var' header
1542 args. Just delete this if I'm being dense.
1544 This should be working, see the following example...
1546 #+srcname: two-arg-example
1547 #+begin_src R :var n=2 :var m=8
1551 #+resname: two-arg-example
1554 ** DONE ensure that table ranges work
1555 when a table range is passed to org-babel as an argument, it should be
1556 interpreted as a vector.
1559 | 2 | 3 | Fixnum:1 |
1560 | 3 | 4 | Array:123456 |
1564 #+TBLFM: @1$3='(sbe simple-sbe-example (n 4))::@2$3='(sbe task-table-range (n @1$1..@6$1))::@3$3='(sbe task-table-range (n (@1$1..@6$1)))
1566 #+srcname: simple-sbe-example
1567 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
1571 #+srcname: task-table-range
1572 #+begin_src ruby :var n=simple-sbe-example
1576 #+srcname: simple-results
1577 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var n=task-table-range(n=(1 2 3))
1581 #+resname: simple-results
1584 #+srcname: task-arr-referent
1585 #+begin_src ruby :var ar=(1 2 3)
1589 #+resname: task-arr-referent
1592 ** DONE global variable indicating default to vector output
1593 how about an alist... =org-babel-default-header-args= this may already
1594 exist... just execute the following and all source blocks will default
1597 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
1598 (setq org-babel-default-header-args '((:results . "vector")))
1601 ** DONE name named results if source block is named
1602 currently this isn't happening although it should be
1604 #+srcname: test-naming-named-source-blocks
1605 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
1609 #+resname: test-naming-named-source-blocks
1611 ** DONE (simple caching) check for named results before source blocks
1612 see the TODO comment in [[file:lisp/org-babel-ref.el::TODO%20This%20should%20explicitly%20look%20for%20resname%20lines%20before][org-babel-ref.el#org-babel-ref-resolve-reference]]
1613 ** DONE set =:results silent= when eval with prefix argument
1615 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
1618 ** DONE results-type header (vector/file) [3/3]
1619 In response to a point in Dan's email. We should allow the user to
1620 force scalar or vector results. This could be done with a header
1621 argument, and the default behavior could be controlled through a
1622 configuration variable.
1624 #+srcname: task-trivial-vector
1625 #+begin_src ruby :results replace vector
1632 since it doesn't make sense to turn a vector into a scalar, lets
1633 just add a two values...
1635 - vector :: forces the results to be a vector (potentially 1 dimensional)
1636 - file :: this throws an error if the result isn't a string, and
1637 tries to treat it as a path to a file.
1639 I'm just going to cram all of these into the =:results= header
1640 argument. Then if we allow multiple header arguments it should
1641 work out, for example one possible header argument string could be
1642 =:results replace vector file=, which would *replace* any existing
1643 results forcing the results into an org-mode table, and
1644 interpreting any strings as file paths.
1646 *** DONE multiple =:results= headers
1648 #+srcname: multiple-result-headers
1649 #+begin_src ruby :results replace silent
1655 *** DONE file result types
1656 When inserting into an org-mode buffer create a link with the path
1657 being the value, and optionally the display being the
1658 =file-name-nondirectory= if it exists.
1660 #+srcname: task-file-result
1661 #+begin_src python :results replace file
1666 [[something][something]]
1669 This will be useful because blocks like =ditaa= and =dot= can return
1670 the string path of their files, and can add =file= to their results
1673 *** DONE vector result types
1675 #+srcname: task-force-results
1676 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results vector
1683 ** DONE results name
1684 In order to do this we will need to start naming our results.
1685 Since the source blocks are named with =#+srcname:= lines we can
1686 name results with =#+resname:= lines (if the source block has no
1687 name then no name is given to the =#+resname:= line on creation,
1688 otherwise the name of the source block is used).
1690 This will have the additional benefit of allowing results and
1691 source blocks to be located in different places in a buffer (and
1692 eventually in different buffers entirely).
1694 #+srcname: developing-resnames
1695 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
1699 Once source blocks are able to find their own =#+resname:= lines
1702 #+srcname: sbe-w-new-results
1703 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results replace
1704 (sbe "developing-resnames")
1710 *** TODO change the results insertion functions to use these lines
1712 *** TODO teach references to resolve =#+resname= lines.
1714 ** DONE org-babel tests org-babel [1/1]
1715 since we are accumulating this nice collection of source-code blocks
1716 in the sandbox section we should make use of them as unit tests.
1717 What's more, we should be able to actually use org-babel to run these
1720 We would just need to cycle over every source code block under the
1721 sandbox, run it, and assert that the return value is equal to what we
1724 I have the feeling that this should be possible using only org-babel
1725 functions with minimal or no additional elisp. It would be very cool
1726 for org-babel to be able to test itself.
1728 This is now done, see [[* Tests]].
1730 *** DEFERRED org-babel assertions (may not be necessary)
1731 These could be used to make assertions about the results of a
1732 source-code block. If the assertion fails then the point could be
1733 moved to the block, and error messages and highlighting etc... could
1736 ** DONE make C-c C-c work anywhere within source code block?
1737 This seems like it would be nice to me, but perhaps it would be
1738 inefficient or ugly in implementation? I suppose you could search
1739 forward, and if you find #+end_src before you find #+begin_src,
1740 then you're inside one. [DED]
1742 Agreed, I think inside of the =#+srcname: line= would be useful as
1745 #+srcname: testing-out-cc
1746 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
1750 ** DONE integration with org tables
1751 We should make it easy to call org-babel source blocks from org-mode
1752 table formulas. This is practical now that it is possible to pass
1753 arguments to org-babel source blocks.
1755 See the related [[* (sandbox) integration w/org tables][sandbox]] header for tests/examples.
1757 *** digging in org-table.el
1758 In the past [[file:~/src/org/lisp/org-table.el::org%20table%20el%20The%20table%20editor%20for%20Org%20mode][org-table.el]] has proven difficult to work with.
1760 Should be a hook in [[file:~/src/org/lisp/org-table.el::defun%20org%20table%20eval%20formula%20optional%20arg%20equation][org-table-eval-formula]].
1762 Looks like I need to change this [[file:~/src/org/lisp/org-table.el::if%20lispp][if statement]] (line 2239) into a cond
1765 ** DONE source blocks as functions
1767 Allow source code blocks to be called like functions, with arguments
1768 specified. We are already able to call a source-code block and assign
1769 it's return result to a variable. This would just add the ability to
1770 specify the values of the arguments to the source code block assuming
1771 any exist. For an example see
1773 When a variable appears in a header argument, how do we differentiate
1774 between it's value being a reference or a literal value? I guess this
1775 could work just like a programming language. If it's escaped or in
1776 quotes, then we count it as a literal, otherwise we try to look it up
1779 ** DONE folding of code blocks? [2/2]
1780 [DED] In similar way to using outline-minor-mode for folding function
1781 bodies, can we fold code blocks? #+begin whatever statements are
1782 pretty ugly, and in any case when you're thinking about the overall
1783 game plan you don't necessarily want to see the code for each Step.
1785 *** DONE folding of source code block
1786 Sounds good, and wasn't too hard to implement. Code blocks should
1787 now be fold-able in the same manner as headlines (by pressing TAB
1790 *** REJECTED folding of results
1791 So, lets do a three-stage tab cycle... First fold the src block,
1792 then fold the results, then unfold.
1794 There's no way to tell if the results are a table or not w/o
1795 actually executing the block which would be too expensive of an
1798 ** DONE selective export of text, code, figures
1799 [DED] The org-babel buffer contains everything (code, headings and
1800 notes/prose describing what you're up to, textual/numeric/graphical
1801 code output, etc). However on export to html / LaTeX one might want
1802 to include only a subset of that content. For example you might
1803 want to create a presentation of what you've done which omits the
1806 [EMS] So I think this should be implemented as a property which can
1807 be set globally or on the outline header level (I need to review
1808 the mechanics of org-mode properties). And then as a source block
1809 header argument which will apply only to a specific source code
1810 block. A header argument of =:export= with values of
1812 - =code= :: just show the code in the source code block
1813 - =none= :: don't show the code or the results of the evaluation
1814 - =results= :: just show the results of the code evaluation (don't
1815 show the actual code)
1816 - =both= :: show both the source code, and the results
1818 this will be done in [[* (sandbox) selective export][(sandbox) selective export]].
1820 ** DONE a header argument specifying silent evaluation (no output)
1821 This would be useful across all types of source block. Currently
1822 there is a =:replace t= option to control output, this could be
1823 generalized to an =:output= option which could take the following
1824 options (maybe more)
1826 - =t= :: this would be the default, and would simply insert the
1827 results after the source block
1828 - =replace= :: to replace any results which may already be there
1829 - =silent= :: this would inhibit any insertion of the results
1831 This is now implemented see the example in the [[* silent evaluation][sandbox]]
1833 ** DONE assign variables from tables in R
1834 This is now working (see [[* (sandbox table) R][(sandbox-table)-R]]). Although it's not that
1835 impressive until we are able to print table results from R.
1837 ** DONE insert 2-D R results as tables
1838 everything is working but R and shell
1844 This has already been tackled by Dan in [[file:existing_tools/org-R.el::defconst%20org%20R%20write%20org%20table%20def][org-R:check-dimensions]]. The
1845 functions there should be useful in combination with [[http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-data.html#Export-to-text-files][R-export-to-csv]]
1846 as a means of converting multidimensional R objects to emacs lisp.
1848 It may be as simple as first checking if the data is multidimensional,
1849 and then, if so using =write= to write the data out to a temporary
1850 file from which emacs can read the data in using =org-table-import=.
1852 Looking into this further, is seems that there is no such thing as a
1853 scalar in R [[http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/help/03a/3733.html][R-scalar-vs-vector]] In that light I am not sure how to
1854 deal with trivial vectors (scalars) in R. I'm tempted to just treat
1855 them as vectors, but then that would lead to a proliferation of
1856 trivial 1-cell tables...
1858 ** DONE allow variable initialization from source blocks
1859 Currently it is possible to initialize a variable from an org-mode
1860 table with a block argument like =table=sandbox= (note that the
1861 variable doesn't have to named =table=) as in the following example
1867 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var table=sandbox :results replace
1868 (message (format "table = %S" table))
1871 : "table = ((1 2 3) (4 \"schulte\" 6))"
1873 It would be good to allow initialization of variables from the results
1874 of other source blocks in the same manner. This would probably
1875 require the addition of =#+SRCNAME: example= lines for the naming of
1876 source blocks, also the =table=sandbox= syntax may have to be expanded
1877 to specify whether the target is a source code block or a table
1878 (alternately we could just match the first one with the given name
1879 whether it's a table or a source code block).
1881 At least initially I'll try to implement this so that there is no need
1882 to specify whether the reference is to a table or a source-code block.
1883 That seems to be simpler both in terms of use and implementation.
1885 This is now working for emacs-lisp, ruby and python (and mixtures of
1886 the three) source blocks. See the examples in the [[* (sandbox) referencing other source blocks][sandbox]].
1888 This is currently working only with emacs lisp as in the following
1889 example in the [[* emacs lisp source reference][emacs lisp source reference]].
1892 ** TODO Add languages [0/5]
1893 I'm sure there are many more that aren't listed here. Please add
1894 them, and bubble any that you particularly care about up to the top.
1896 Any new language should be implemented in a org-babel-lang.el file.
1897 Follow the pattern set by [[file:lisp/org-babel-script.el][org-babel-script.el]], [[file:lisp/org-babel-shell.el][org-babel-shell.el]] and
1898 [[file:lisp/org-babel-R.el][org-babel-R.el]].
1901 This could probably be added to [[file:lisp/org-babel-script.el][org-babel-script.el]]
1906 (see [[* file result types][file result types]])
1909 (see [[* file result types][file result types]])
1912 (see [[* file result types][file result types]])
1916 ** TODO Allow source blocks to be recognised when #+ are not first characters on the line
1917 I think Carsten has recently altered the core so that #+ can have
1918 preceding whitespace, at least for literal/code examples. org-babel
1919 should support this.
1920 ** PROPOSED make :results replace the default?
1921 I'm tending to think that appending results to pre-existing results
1922 creates mess, and that the cleaner `replace' option should be the
1923 default. E.g. when a source block creates an image, we would want
1924 that to be updated, rather than have a new one be added.
1925 ** PROPOSED external shell execution can't isolate return values
1926 I have no idea how to do this as of yet. The result is that when
1927 shell functions are run w/o a session there is no difference between
1928 the =output= and =value= result arguments.
1930 ** TODO non-orgtbl formatted lists
1933 #+srcname: this-doesn't-match-orgtbl
1934 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results replace
1935 '((:results . "replace"))
1938 #+resname: this-doesn't-match-orgtbl
1940 ** TODO collapsing consecutive newlines in string output
1942 #+srcname: multi-line-string-output
1943 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
1944 "the first line ends here
1947 and this is the second one
1953 : the first line ends here
1954 : and this is the second one
1955 : return even a third
1957 ** TODO cursor movement when evaluating source blocks
1958 E.g. the pie chart example. Despite the save-window-excursion in
1959 org-babel-execute:R. (I never learned how to do this properly: org-R
1960 jumps all over the place...)
1962 ** DEFERRED weird escaped characters in shell prompt break shell evaluation
1963 E.g. this doesn't work. Should the shell sessions set a sane prompt
1964 when they start up? Or is it a question of altering
1965 comint-prompt-regexp? Or altering org-babel regexps?
1968 black=30 ; red=31 ; green=32 ; yellow=33 ; blue=34 ; magenta=35 ; cyan=36 ; white=37
1971 export PS1="\[\033[${prompt_col}m\]\w${prompt_char} \[\033[0m\]"
1974 I just pushed a good amount of changes, could you see if your shell
1975 problems still exist?
1977 The problem's still there. Specifically, aIui, at [[file:lisp/langs/org-babel-sh.el::raw%20org%20babel%20comint%20with%20output%20buffer%20org%20babel%20sh%20eoe%20output%20nil%20insert%20full%20body%20comint%20send%20input%20nil%20t][this line]] of
1978 org-babel-sh.el, raw gets the value
1980 ("" "
\e[0m Sun Jun 14 19:26:24 EDT 2009\n" "
\e[0m org_babel_sh_eoe\n" "
\e[0m ")
1982 and therefore (member org-babel-sh-eoe-output ...) fails
1984 I think that `comint-prompt-regexp' needs to be altered to match
1985 the shell prompt. This shouldn't be too difficult to do by hand,
1986 using the `regexp-builder' command and should probably be part of
1987 the user's regular emacs init. I can't think of a way for us to
1988 set this automatically, and we are SOL without a regexp to match
1990 ** DONE ruby evaluation not working under ubuntu emacs 23
1991 With emacs 23.0.91.1 on ubuntu, for C-h f run-ruby I have the
1992 following, which seems to conflict with [[file:lisp/langs/org-babel-ruby.el::let%20session%20buffer%20save%20window%20excursion%20run%20ruby%20nil%20session%20current%20buffer][this line]] in org-babel-ruby.el.
1995 run-ruby is an interactive compiled Lisp function.
1999 Run an inferior Ruby process, input and output via buffer *ruby*.
2000 If there is a process already running in `*ruby*', switch to that buffer.
2001 With argument, allows you to edit the command line (default is value
2002 of `ruby-program-name'). Runs the hooks `inferior-ruby-mode-hook'
2003 (after the `comint-mode-hook' is run).
2004 (Type C-h m in the process buffer for a list of commands.)
2007 So, I may have a non-standard inf-ruby.el. Here's my version of
2011 run-ruby is an interactive Lisp function in `inf-ruby.el'.
2013 (run-ruby &optional COMMAND NAME)
2015 Run an inferior Ruby process, input and output via buffer *ruby*.
2016 If there is a process already running in `*ruby*', switch to that buffer.
2017 With argument, allows you to edit the command line (default is value
2018 of `ruby-program-name'). Runs the hooks `inferior-ruby-mode-hook'
2019 (after the `comint-mode-hook' is run).
2020 (Type C-h m in the process buffer for a list of commands.)
2023 It seems we could either bundle my version of inf-ruby.el (as it's
2024 the newest). Or we could change the use of `run-ruby' so that it
2025 is robust across multiple distributions. I think I'd prefer the
2026 former, unless the older version of inf-ruby is actually bundled
2027 with emacs, in which case maybe we should go out of our way to
2028 support it. Thoughts?
2030 I think for now I'll just include the latest [[file:util/inf-ruby.el][inf-ruby.el]] in the
2031 newly created utility directory. I doubt anyone would have a
2032 problem using the latest version of this file.
2033 ** DONE test failing forcing vector results with =test-forced-vector-results= ruby code block
2034 Note that this only seems to happen the *second* time the test table
2037 #+srcname: bug-trivial-vector
2038 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results vector silent
2042 #+srcname: bug-forced-vector-results
2043 #+begin_src ruby :var triv=test-trivial-vector :results silent
2047 mysteriously this seems to be fixed...
2048 ** DONE defunct R sessions
2049 Sometimes an old R session will turn defunct, and newly inserted code
2050 will not be evaluated (leading to a hang).
2052 This seems to be fixed by using `inferior-ess-send-input' rather than `comint-send-input'.
2053 ** DONE ruby fails on first call to non-default session
2055 #+srcname: bug-new-session
2056 #+begin_src ruby :session is-new
2060 ** DONE when reading results from =#+resname= line
2062 Errors when trying to read from resname lines.
2064 #+resname: bug-in-resname
2067 #+srcname: bug-in-resname-reader
2068 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var buggy=bug-in-resname() :results silent
2072 ** DONE R-code broke on "org-babel" rename
2074 #+srcname: bug-R-babels
2079 ** DONE error on trivial R results
2081 So I know it's generally not a good idea to squash error without
2082 handling them, but in this case the error almost always means that
2083 there was no file contents to be read by =org-table-import=, so I
2086 #+srcname: bug-trivial-r1
2087 #+begin_src R :results replace
2088 pie(c(1, 2, 3), labels = c(1, 2, 3))
2091 #+srcname: bug-trivial-r2
2092 #+begin_src R :results replace
2096 #+resname: bug-trivial-r2
2099 #+srcname: bug-trivial-r3
2100 #+begin_src R :results replace
2104 #+resname: bug-trivial-r3
2109 ** DONE ruby new variable creation (multi-line ruby blocks)
2110 Actually it looks like we were dropping all but the last line.
2112 #+srcname: multi-line-ruby-test
2113 #+begin_src ruby :var table=bug-numerical-table :results replace
2115 table.each{|n| total += n}
2122 ** DONE R code execution seems to choke on certain inputs
2123 Currently the R code seems to work on vertical (but not landscape)
2126 #+srcname: little-fake
2127 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
2131 #+begin_src R :var num=little-fake
2145 #+srcname: set-debug-on-error
2146 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2147 (setq debug-on-error t)
2150 #+srcname: bug-numerical-table
2151 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2155 #+srcname: bug-R-number-evaluation
2156 #+begin_src R :var table=bug-numerical-table :results replace
2163 #+tblname: bug-vert-table
2168 #+srcname: bug-R-vertical-table
2169 #+begin_src R :var table=bug-vert-table :results silent
2173 ** DONE org bug/request: prevent certain org behaviour within code blocks
2174 E.g. [[]] gets recognised as a link (when there's text inside the
2175 brackets). This is bad for R code at least, and more generally
2176 could be argued to be inappropriate. Is it difficult to get org to
2177 ignore text in code blocks? [DED]
2179 I believe Carsten addressed this recently on the mailing list with
2180 the comment that it was indeed a difficult issue. I believe this
2181 may be one area where we could wait for an upstream (org-mode) fix.
2183 [Dan] Carsten has fixed this now in the core.
2185 ** DONE with :results replace, non-table output doesn't replace table output
2186 And vice versa. E.g. Try this first with table and then with len(table) [DED]
2187 #+begin_src python :var table=sandbox :results replace
2192 | 4 | "schulte" | 6 |
2195 Yes, this is certainly a problem. I fear that if we begin replacing
2196 anything immediately following a source block (regardless of whether
2197 it matches the type of our current results) we may accidentally delete
2198 hand written portions of the user's org-mode buffer.
2200 I think that the best solution here would be to actually start
2201 labeling results with a line that looks something like...
2205 This would have a couple of benefits...
2206 1) we wouldn't have to worry about possibly deleting non-results
2207 (which is currently an issue)
2208 2) we could reliably replace results even if there are different types
2209 3) we could reference the results of a source-code block in variable
2210 definitions, which would be useful if for example we don't wish to
2211 re-run a source-block every time because it is long-running.
2213 Thoughts? If no-one objects, I believe I will implement the labeling
2216 ** DONE extra quotes for nested string
2217 Well R appears to be reading the tables without issue...
2219 these *should* be quoted
2221 #+begin_src sh :results replace
2226 | "README.markdown" |
2229 | "existing_tools" |
2233 | "test-export.html" |
2234 | "test-export.org" |
2236 #+srcname: test-quotes
2237 #+begin_src ruby :var tab=ls
2243 #+srcname: test-quotes
2244 #+begin_src R :var tab=ls
2250 ** DONE simple ruby arrays not working
2252 As an example eval the following. Adding a line to test
2254 #+tblname: simple-ruby-array
2257 #+srcname: ruby-array-test
2258 #+begin_src ruby :var ar = simple-ruby-array :results silent
2262 ** DONE space trailing language name
2263 fix regexp so it works when there's a space trailing the language name
2265 #+srcname: test-trailing-space
2270 ** DONE Args out of range error
2272 The following block resulted in the error below [DED]. It ran without
2273 error directly in the shell.
2276 for platf in ill aff ; do
2277 for pop in CEU YRI ASI ; do
2278 rm -f $platf/hapmap-genos-$pop-all $platf/hapmap-rs-all
2279 cat $platf/hapmap-genos-$pop-* > $platf/hapmap-genos-$pop-all
2280 cat $platf/hapmap-rs-* > $platf/hapmap-rs-all
2285 executing source block with sh...
2286 finished executing source block
2287 string-equal: Args out of range: "", -1, 0
2289 the error =string-equal: Args out of range: "", -1, 0= looks like what
2290 used to be output when the block returned an empty results string.
2291 This should be fixed in the current version, you should now see the
2292 following message =no result returned by source block=.
2294 ** DONE ruby arrays not recognized as such
2296 Something is wrong in [[file:lisp/org-babel-script.el]] related to the
2297 recognition of ruby arrays as such.
2299 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
2305 #+begin_src python :results replace
2313 Evaluate all the cells in this table for a comprehensive test of the
2314 org-babel functionality.
2316 *Note*: if you have customized =org-babel-default-header-args= then some
2317 of these tests may fail.
2319 #+TBLNAME: org-babel-tests
2320 | functionality | block | arg | expected | results | pass |
2321 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2322 | basic evaluation | | | | | |
2323 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2324 | emacs lisp | basic-elisp | | 5 | | |
2325 | shell | basic-shell | | 6 | | |
2326 | ruby | basic-ruby | | org-babel | | |
2327 | python | basic-python | | hello world | | |
2328 | R | basic-R | | 13 | | |
2329 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2330 | tables | | | | | |
2331 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2332 | emacs lisp | table-elisp | | 3 | | |
2333 | ruby | table-ruby | | 1-2-3 | | |
2334 | python | table-python | | 5 | | |
2335 | R | table-R | | 3.5 | | |
2336 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2337 | source block references | | | | | |
2338 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2339 | all languages | chained-ref-last | | Array | | |
2340 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2341 | source block functions | | | | | |
2342 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2343 | emacs lisp | defun-fibb | | fibbd | | |
2344 | run over | Fibonacci | 0 | 1 | | |
2345 | a | Fibonacci | 1 | 1 | | |
2346 | variety | Fibonacci | 2 | 2 | | |
2347 | of | Fibonacci | 3 | 3 | | |
2348 | different | Fibonacci | 4 | 5 | | |
2349 | arguments | Fibonacci | 5 | 8 | | |
2350 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2351 | bugs and tasks | | | | | |
2352 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2353 | simple ruby arrays | ruby-array-test | | 3 | | |
2354 | R number evaluation | bug-R-number-evaluation | | 2 | | |
2355 | multi-line ruby blocks | multi-line-ruby-test | | 2 | | |
2356 | forcing vector results | test-forced-vector-results | | Array | | |
2357 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2358 | sessions | | | | | |
2359 |-------------------------+----------------------------+-----+-------------+-------------+------|
2360 | set ruby session | set-ruby-session-var | | :set | | |
2361 | get from ruby session | get-ruby-session-var | | 3 | | |
2362 | set python session | set-python-session-var | | set | | |
2363 | get from python session | get-python-session-var | | 4 | | |
2364 | set R session | set-R-session-var | | set | | |
2365 | get from R session | get-R-session-var | | 5 | | |
2366 #+TBLFM: $5='(if (= (length $3) 1) (progn (message (format "running %S" '(sbe $2 (n $3)))) (sbe $2 (n $3))) (sbe $2))::$6='(if (string= $4 $5) "pass" (format "expected %S but was %S" $4 $5))
2370 #+srcname: basic-elisp
2371 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2375 #+srcname: basic-shell
2376 #+begin_src sh :results silent
2380 #+srcname: date-simple
2381 #+begin_src sh :results silent
2385 #+srcname: basic-ruby
2386 #+begin_src ruby :results silent
2390 #+srcname: basic-python
2391 #+begin_src python :results silent
2396 #+begin_src R :results silent
2403 #+tblname: test-table
2407 #+srcname: table-elisp
2408 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent :var table=test-table
2409 (length (car table))
2412 #+srcname: table-ruby
2413 #+begin_src ruby :results silent :var table=test-table
2414 table.first.join("-")
2417 #+srcname: table-python
2418 #+begin_src python :var table=test-table
2423 #+begin_src R :var table=test-table
2429 Lets pass a references through all of our languages...
2431 Lets start by reversing the table from the previous examples
2433 #+srcname: chained-ref-first
2434 #+begin_src python :var table = test-table
2439 #+resname: chained-ref-first
2443 Take the first part of the list
2445 #+srcname: chained-ref-second
2446 #+begin_src R :var table = chained-ref-first
2450 #+resname: chained-ref-second
2454 Turn the numbers into string
2456 #+srcname: chained-ref-third
2457 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var table = chained-ref-second
2458 (mapcar (lambda (el) (format "%S" el)) table)
2461 #+resname: chained-ref-third
2464 and Check that it is still a list
2466 #+srcname: chained-ref-last
2467 #+begin_src ruby :var table=chained-ref-third
2471 ** source blocks as functions
2473 #+srcname: defun-fibb
2474 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2475 (defun fibbd (n) (if (< n 2) 1 (+ (fibbd (- n 1)) (fibbd (- n 2)))))
2478 #+srcname: fibonacci
2479 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent :var n=7
2483 ** sbe tests (these don't seem to be working...)
2484 Testing the insertion of results into org-mode tables.
2486 #+srcname: multi-line-output
2487 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
2488 "the first line ends here
2491 and this is the second one
2497 : the first line ends here\n\n\n and this is the second one\n\neven a third
2499 #+srcname: multi-line-error
2500 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
2501 raise "oh nooooooooooo"
2507 | the first line ends here... | -:5: warning: parenthesize argument(s) for future version... |
2508 #+TBLFM: $1='(sbe "multi-line-output")::$2='(sbe "multi-line-error")
2510 ** forcing results types tests
2512 #+srcname: test-trivial-vector
2513 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results vector silent
2517 #+srcname: test-forced-vector-results
2518 #+begin_src ruby :var triv=test-trivial-vector :results silent
2524 #+srcname: set-ruby-session-var
2525 #+begin_src ruby :session :results silent
2530 #+srcname: get-ruby-session-var
2531 #+begin_src ruby :session :results silent
2535 #+srcname: set-python-session-var
2536 #+begin_src python :session
2541 #+srcname: get-python-session-var
2542 #+begin_src python :session
2546 #+srcname: set-R-session-var
2547 #+begin_src R :session
2552 #+srcname: get-R-session-var
2553 #+begin_src R :session
2562 To run these examples evaluate [[file:lisp/org-babel-init.el][org-babel-init.el]]
2564 ** org-babel.el beginning functionality
2566 #+begin_src sh :results replace
2570 : Thu May 14 18:52:25 EDT 2009
2576 : Thu May 14 18:59:09 -0400 2009
2587 #+begin_src R :results replace
2600 hist(rgamma(20,3,3))
2604 ** org-babel plays with tables
2605 Alright, this should demonstrate both the ability of org-babel to read
2606 tables into a lisp source code block, and to then convert the results
2607 of the source code block into an org table. It's using the classic
2608 "lisp is elegant" demonstration transpose function. To try this
2611 1. evaluate [[file:lisp/org-babel-init.el]] to load org-babel and friends
2612 2. evaluate the transpose definition =\C-c\\C-c= on the beginning of
2614 3. evaluate the next source code block, this should read in the table
2615 because of the =:var table=previous=, then transpose the table, and
2616 finally it should insert the transposed table into the buffer
2617 immediately following the block
2621 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2622 (defun transpose (table)
2623 (apply #'mapcar* #'list table))
2631 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var table=sandbox :results replace
2636 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
2640 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
2644 #+begin_src ruby :var table=sandbox :results replace
2645 table.first.join(" - ")
2651 #+begin_src python :var table=sandbox
2658 #+begin_src ruby :var table=sandbox :results replace
2663 | 4 | "schulte" | 6 |
2665 #+begin_src python :var table=sandbox :results replace
2671 | "__add__" | "__class__" | "__contains__" | "__delattr__" | "__delitem__" | "__delslice__" | "__doc__" | "__eq__" | "__format__" | "__ge__" | "__getattribute__" | "__getitem__" | "__getslice__" | "__gt__" | "__hash__" | "__iadd__" | "__imul__" | "__init__" | "__iter__" | "__le__" | "__len__" | "__lt__" | "__mul__" | "__ne__" | "__new__" | "__reduce__" | "__reduce_ex__" | "__repr__" | "__reversed__" | "__rmul__" | "__setattr__" | "__setitem__" | "__setslice__" | "__sizeof__" | "__str__" | "__subclasshook__" | "append" | "count" | "extend" | "index" | "insert" | "pop" | "remove" | "reverse" | "sort" |
2673 *** (sandbox table) R
2675 #+TBLNAME: sandbox_r
2679 #+begin_src R :results replace
2680 x <- c(rnorm(10, mean=-3, sd=1), rnorm(10, mean=3, sd=1))
2684 | -3.35473133869346 |
2686 | -3.32819924928633 |
2687 | -2.97310212756194 |
2688 | -2.09640758369576 |
2689 | -5.06054014378736 |
2690 | -2.20713700711221 |
2691 | -1.37618039712037 |
2692 | -1.95839385821742 |
2693 | -3.90407396475502 |
2694 | 2.51168071590226 |
2695 | 3.96753011570494 |
2696 | 3.31793212627865 |
2697 | 1.99829753972341 |
2698 | 4.00403686419829 |
2699 | 4.63723764452927 |
2700 | 3.94636744261313 |
2701 | 3.58355906547775 |
2702 | 3.01563442274226 |
2705 #+begin_src R var tabel=sandbox_r :results replace
2710 | 4 | "schulte" | 6 |
2713 Now shell commands are converted to tables using =org-table-import=
2714 and if these tables are non-trivial (i.e. have multiple elements) then
2715 they are imported as org-mode tables...
2717 #+begin_src sh :results replace
2721 | "total" | 208 | "" | "" | "" | "" | "" | "" |
2722 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 57 | 2009 | 15 | "block" |
2723 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 35147 | 2009 | 15 | "COPYING" |
2724 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 722 | 2009 | 18 | "examples.org" |
2725 | "drwxr-xr-x" | 4 | "dan" | "dan" | 4096 | 2009 | 19 | "existing_tools" |
2726 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 2207 | 2009 | 14 | "intro.org" |
2727 | "drwxr-xr-x" | 2 | "dan" | "dan" | 4096 | 2009 | 18 | "org-babel" |
2728 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 277 | 2009 | 20 | "README.markdown" |
2729 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 11837 | 2009 | 18 | "rorg.html" |
2730 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 61829 | 2009 | 19 | "#rorg.org#" |
2731 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 60190 | 2009 | 19 | "rorg.org" |
2732 | "-rw-r--r--" | 1 | "dan" | "dan" | 972 | 2009 | 11 | "test-export.org" |
2735 ** silent evaluation
2743 #+begin_src ruby :results silent
2747 #+begin_src ruby :results replace
2754 ** (sandbox) referencing other source blocks
2755 Doing this in emacs-lisp first because it's trivial to convert
2756 emacs-lisp results to and from emacs-lisp.
2758 *** emacs lisp source reference
2759 This first example performs a calculation in the first source block
2760 named =top=, the results of this calculation are then saved into the
2761 variable =first= by the header argument =:var first=top=, and it is
2762 used in the calculations of the second source block.
2765 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
2769 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var first=top :results replace
2775 This example is the same as the previous only the variable being
2776 passed through is a table rather than a number.
2778 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2779 (defun transpose (table)
2780 (apply #'mapcar* #'list table))
2783 #+TBLNAME: top_table
2787 #+SRCNAME: second_src_example
2788 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var table=top_table
2792 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var table=second_src_example :results replace
2797 | 4 | "schulte" | 6 |
2799 Now working for ruby
2806 #+begin_src ruby :var other=start :results replace
2812 #+SRCNAME: start_two
2817 #+begin_src python :var another=start_two :results replace
2822 Since all variables are converted into Emacs Lisp it is no problem to
2823 reference variables specified in another language.
2825 #+SRCNAME: ruby-block
2830 #+SRCNAME: lisp_block
2831 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var ruby-variable=ruby-block
2835 #+begin_src python :var lisp_var=lisp_block
2844 #+begin_src R :results replace
2851 #+begin_src R :var other=first_r :results replace
2858 ** (sandbox) selective export
2860 For exportation tests and examples see (including exportation of
2861 inline source code blocks) [[file:test-export.org]]
2864 ** (sandbox) source blocks as functions
2867 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2872 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var n=default :results replace
2878 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var result=triple(n=3, m=98) :results replace
2884 The following just demonstrates the ability to assign variables to
2885 literal values, which was not implemented until recently.
2887 #+begin_src ruby :var num="eric" :results replace
2894 ** (sandbox) inline source blocks
2896 This is an inline source code block src_ruby{1 + 6}. And another
2897 source block with text output src_emacs-lisp{"eric"}.
2899 This is an inline source code block with header
2900 arguments. src_ruby[:var n=fibbd( n = 0 )]{n}
2903 ** (sandbox) integration w/org tables
2905 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2906 (defun fibbd (n) (if (< n 2) 1 (+ (fibbd (- n 1)) (fibbd (- n 2)))))
2910 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :var n=4 :results silent
2914 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2915 (mapcar #'fibbd '(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8))
2918 Something is not working here. The function `sbe ' works fine when
2919 called from outside of the table (see the source block below), but
2920 produces an error when called from inside the table. I think there
2921 must be some narrowing going on during intra-table emacs-lisp
2924 | original | fibbd |
2925 |----------+-------|
2936 #+TBLFM: $2='(sbe "fibbd" (n $1))
2940 #+begin_src emacs-lisp :results silent
2941 (sbe 'fibbd (n "8"))
2946 LocalWords: DBlocks dblocks org-babel el eric fontification