Become an R Package Developer!

👋 Hello!

Bonjour depuis Nancy !

My R package development creds

I really ❤️ R package development

• Volunteer editor for rOpenSci Software Peer Review.

• At work, maintenance of rOpenSci dev guide.

• Created the R-hub blog.

• Worked on the HTTP testing in R book.

My R package development creds

Contributed to

• pkgdown 2.0.0 (to produce documentation websites for packages)

• fledge 0.1.0 (Smoother change tracking and versioning for R packages)

• glitter 0.1.0 (a SPARQL domain-specific language)

Why develop an R package?

Easiest way to share code/data/R Markdown templates… with

• (future) you,

• the collaborators you know,

• and the collaborators you don’t.

Why learning about package development?

Jon Calder’s very good wording

• To share code (and data);

• To leverage existing tooling;

• To contribute to other packages.

Who can write a package? YOU!

Susan Johnston’s wise words.

• Can you open R or RStudio?

• Can you install a package?

• Have you ever written a function in R?

• Could you learn how to write a function in R?

➡️ You can write a package in R!

Learn about functions

• Materials from Stephanie Kirmer’s R-Ladies East Lansing tutorial

• Write your own R functions, stat 545 course by Jenny Bryan and The STAT 545 TAs;

• Chapter about functions in the book “R for Data Science” by Garrett Grolemund and Hadley Wickham;

• Fun with Functions talk by Kaylea Haynes, R-Ladies Manchester.

What is a package?

Pour réduire ses craintes, il faut se dire que ce n’est ni plus ni moins qu’un dossier organisé d’une manière contrainte.

To be less afraid you have to tell yourself that it’s simply a folder organized in a constrained way.

Sébastien Rochette

Automation!

Automating… How?

Remember Clippy?

Automating… How?

Get to know an actually useful Clippy, {usethis}!

usethis and co

The usethis package implements this important principle: Automate that which can be automated. Your computer was literally born to implement rote-but-fussy stuff for you. https://t.co/OfIUzSBlc7

— Jenny Bryan (@JennyBryan) November 28, 2017

Goals for today

• Get to know (the best 😇) tools for package development;

• Learn that there is no magic, only practice and ✨ tips ✨;

• Think about whether to contribute to open-source packages.

Website tour

🔗 https://rladies-jozi-r-pkg-dev.netlify.app/

Slides, notes from the demo, further resources, comments!

Time for a demo 🚀

Notes on the course website.

Also refer to the Whole game chapter of the R packages book by Hadley Wickham and Jenny Bryan.

Back from the demo

• devtools::load_all() (and then install)

• {usethis} for all the things.

R CMD check (devtools::check())

So what’s really hard?

• Writing good code.

• Writing a good interface.

• Writing good docs.

More with packages

• usethis::use_rmarkdown_template().

• Distributing data usethis::use_data().

• Packaging a Shiny app (look for examples, and golemverse).

• Reproducible analyses, research compendium.

Less with packages

• If developing a package for wider distribution, check it does not exist yet.

• Miles McBain’s post “Project as an R package: An okay idea”.

Questions?

Write them in the doc.

Time for a break! ☕