Title: Exposing R as Java-based web services

Authors: Nianhua Li, Martin Morgan, Seth Falcon, Robert Gentleman

Abstract:
Web services are one way to integrate the distributed and heterogenous
data and analytic resources required by modern statistical analyses.
Here we introduce RWebServices, a package that exposes R objects and
functionality as web services. The approach uses strongly typed R
functions (using the TypeInfo package), the S4 class system, and SJava
to facilitate automatic conversion between R and Java objects and
methods, and to provide an SJava-based interface to R functions. The
Java objects and methods created by RWebServices are then exposed
using well-developed Java-based web services infrastructure. The
flexibility of this approach is illustrated by a related effort, to
integrate parts of the Bioconductor project into the Cancer Biomedical
Informatics Grid.