I. Running Splus interactively.

   At the tcsh command prompt, type "Splus -e":

   % Splus -e
   S-PLUS : Copyright (c) 1988, 2002 Insightful Corp.
   S : Copyright Lucent Technologies, Inc.
   Version 6.1.2 Release 2 for Linux 2.2.12 : 2002 
   Working data will be in /home/FAMINE/brian/MySwork 
   > 

   The "-e" lets you recall old commands with the arrow keys and do
   emacs-like editing of the current command line.

   TIP: I often open an emacs window next to my Splus window.  In the
   emacs window I compose one or more Splus commands to do what I
   want.  Then I copy-and-paste them from the emacs window to the
   Splus window.  

   ADVANTAGE: I can always save a record (in the file I am editing in
   emacs) of what works for my current task in Splus.

   DISADVANTAGE: With windows for Splus, Splus graphics, and emacs,
   the screen can get cluttered.

II.  Many people prefer to run Splus from INSIDE of emacs.  
     I know of two ways to run Splus from within emacs.  

 A. Start a shell in an emacs buffer, and run Splus from that shell.

   Start up emacs at the tcsh command prompt:

       % emacs
   
   Start a (Bourne) shell inside the emacs buffer

       M-x shell
   
   Something like "sh-2.05$" appears in the emacs buffer.  Type a
   command, like "pwd", and you see you are executing UNIX commands:

      sh-2.05$ pwd
      /home/FAMINE/brian/classes/711

   Type "Splus" at the shell prompt to start up Splus:

      sh-2.05$ Splus 
      S-PLUS : Copyright (c) 1988, 2002 Insightful Corp.
      S : Copyright Lucent Technologies, Inc.
      Version 6.1.2 Release 2 for Linux 2.2.12 : 2002 
      Working data will be in /home/FAMINE/brian/MySwork 
      > 

   Interact with Splus however you normally would, then type "q()" at
   the ">" prompt to exit Splus, and type "exit" at the "$" prompt to
   exit the shell.  Use emacs to save the whole session to a text file
   if you wish.

   This seems like a good idea, and I often do it to save "verbatim"
   copies of Splus sessions for class notes, but it's awkward for
   saving just the splus commands "that work".

 B. Use S-mode in emacs.  

   This requires a little one-time setup:

     Copy a setup file from Howard Seltman's space to your space:

     % cd
     % cp ~hseltman/.EmacsS.el .

     Then add the following lines to your .emacs file:

      (autoload 'S "~/.EmacsS.el" "Starts inferior Splus" t) 
      (autoload 'S-mode "~/.EmacsS.el" "Mode for editing S source" t) 

     [note: you may have to replace the "~" with your actual home
     directory name.  You can get this by typing "pwd" at the tcsh
     prompt.] 
   
   Now, when you are in emacs, use Alt-x S<Enter> to start the Splus
   mode of emacs, and enter the starting directory.  You get an
   Splus session as before, but now the different elements are
   color-coded. 

   Within this Splus session, you can use Alt-P and Alt-N to recall
   previous Splus commands; and you can edit them as you normally
   would in emacs.  You can also use Alt-/ [the forward slash] for
   command completion and file completion (like TAB in tcsh).  Many
   other features of this mode are discussed (of course) in Howard
   Seltman's computing tips on the web, under Splus.

-BJ