Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
On Nov 26, 2007 2:44 PM, hadley wickham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > As for who should do the review, I wouldn't trust so much any user as I > > would an organization such as the JSS. If the latter is not possible, the > > first alternative is better than nothing. > > Of course, it doesn't have to be one or the other, but both could be > included. It would be also nice to include: > > * lists of papers that cite that package (relatively difficult with > current bibliographic data sources, but hopefully will be easier in > the future) > > * messages from the mailing lists (r-help, and announcements) > > * easy access to changelogs (both human and computer generated - e.g. > cranberries) > > * links to buy or find in a local library accompanying books > > * other packages produced by the same author, other packages on the same > topic > > * packages that dependent on this package, package that this package depends > on > > And I'm sure there are many other things that I haven't thought of in > 5 minutes of brainstorming. I'd be interested in developing something > like this, but I have to get my PhD finished first! > I agree that this kind of comparative review would be valuable. The existing Topic Views are a good way in to a new field, and I think these should be made more prominent if possible. I was using R for a long time (more than a year) before I discovered them. [[ On a side note, does the R Foundation have any money for formal usability testing of the R website and/or software? ]] I would like to see more information on the CRAN package web pages that could indicate both the quality of a package, and also links to other related packages: 1. A "Development Status" or "Status" field in the DESCRIPTION file, such as they have on sourceforge.net projects (example: http://sf.net/projects/filezilla) that could be one of, say, "Unstable", "Testing", "Stable", or "Inactive". 2. A list of "tags" or "labels" (as in flickr.com, del.icio.us, googlecode.com, etc; example http://flickr.com/photos/tags/). They should be free-form, hyperlinked, and ideally a tag cloud would be available. 3. Building on what Hadley suggested, hyperlinks to: * packages that depend on this one (a dynamically generated list?); * packages that this package depends on (there already, just link it); * related packages (designed for a similar problem), listed in a "See Also" field? * packages by the same maintainer, or authors. 4. As others have suggested, a link to a relevant review or comments page, if one exists. Felix -- Felix Andrews / 安福立 PhD candidate Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre The Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University (Building 48A), ACT 0200 Beijing Bag, Locked Bag 40, Kingston ACT 2604 http://www.neurofractal.org/felix/ 3358 543D AAC6 22C2 D336 80D9 360B 72DD 3E4C F5D8 __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Loren Engrav wrote: > It is clear that R and Bio are amazing resources and that many people invest > lots of time in making them work, thank you > > Having said that > >From the point of view of an R/Bio novice an improved method to find > packages would be very helpful as suggested by John Sorkin > > Three other things would also be helpful > > 1) a page titled "for the newbie" where the startup directions are clearly > outlined, like "print out the R Reference Index which can be found > and read it", etc > It would be really helpful if a newbie (you?) started this by writing down at least the questions. The R Wiki might be a good place for this; check with the people who set it up. > 2) the vignette's are quite terse and many assume the reader already knows > something which may not be true, it would helpful if at the top of each > there be a short paragraph saying "before you read this, you must read this > and this" > Documentation might be too terse; it happens. You need to tell this to each author in each specific instance. Authors of documentation don't always realize what's missing. (But see below: it might be that you aren't the intended audience for the documentation.) > 3) "old timers" stop saying "please read the documentation" as I read that > insatiably and if it fixed the problem I would not ask the next question, > would be more helpful to say "in vignette xyz at the bottom you will find > abc which will show you what to do" and would also follow the example of > Bolker which educates and encourages the newbies > Do remember that you aren't paying for the help you get. If some of it isn't very helpful, then just move on. Also remember that writing documentation for everyone is extremely difficult, so authors won't necessarily appreciate complaints that don't come with help for improvements. Maybe old timers shouldn't say "please read the documentation" and nothing else, but newbies shouldn't say "please write better documentation" and nothing else. Be specific and helpful about what is missing, and don't be upset when an author expects you to be experienced before using his package. There are more than 1000 packages on CRAN, but we don't need 1000 tutorials on R. Duncan Murdoch > Thank you > > Loren Engrav > Univ Wash > Seattle > > __ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
It is clear that R and Bio are amazing resources and that many people invest lots of time in making them work, thank you Having said that >From the point of view of an R/Bio novice an improved method to find packages would be very helpful as suggested by John Sorkin Three other things would also be helpful 1) a page titled "for the newbie" where the startup directions are clearly outlined, like "print out the R Reference Index which can be found and read it", etc 2) the vignette's are quite terse and many assume the reader already knows something which may not be true, it would helpful if at the top of each there be a short paragraph saying "before you read this, you must read this and this" 3) "old timers" stop saying "please read the documentation" as I read that insatiably and if it fixed the problem I would not ask the next question, would be more helpful to say "in vignette xyz at the bottom you will find abc which will show you what to do" and would also follow the example of Bolker which educates and encourages the newbies Thank you Loren Engrav Univ Wash Seattle __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
"hadley wickham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Which moves somewhat back towards my original suggestion of review > articles. To me, an article which compared and contrasted four or > five packages on a given topic would be much more useful than an > article which reviewed only a single package. I think basing reviews > around a specific topic/methodology would be more useful than basing > them around a single package. I agree: Such articles would be welcome resources if published either in JSS or in R-News. -- Mike Prager, NOAA, Beaufort, NC * Opinions expressed are personal and not represented otherwise. * Any use of tradenames does not constitute a NOAA endorsement. __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
> As for who should do the review, I wouldn't trust so much any user as I > would an organization such as the JSS. If the latter is not possible, the > first alternative is better than nothing. Of course, it doesn't have to be one or the other, but both could be included. It would be also nice to include: * lists of papers that cite that package (relatively difficult with current bibliographic data sources, but hopefully will be easier in the future) * messages from the mailing lists (r-help, and announcements) * easy access to changelogs (both human and computer generated - e.g. cranberries) * links to buy or find in a local library accompanying books * other packages produced by the same author, other packages on the same topic * packages that dependent on this package, package that this package depends on And I'm sure there are many other things that I haven't thought of in 5 minutes of brainstorming. I'd be interested in developing something like this, but I have to get my PhD finished first! Hadley -- http://had.co.nz/ __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Hi all, I've been reading your suggestions and I'd like to share my thoghts, which might be common to people not so deeply involved in the development of R. One of the advantages of R is that it's an open source software, meaning that anyone can peruse the code for whatever purpose they might have. In R this is also true with contributed packages. However, for novices (like me) R is terribly overwhelming and although I suspect there are excellent professionals in their development, I really don't know how skilled the person behind a certain package is, both in his discipline and in coding in R. Since it won't be short until I can understand complex R functions, in the meantime I'd find a third-party review of the package useful. So I download a package and know that at least someone else has taken a look at it and vouches for its correct functioning or alerts of errors in certain points. An alternative would be not to use R until I get to understand the code and make sure it does what I expect, whereas I use another software to solve my problems. In many cases this could mean setting R apart for good. Also this is not a minor point if R is expected to spread at the corporate level. Users need some level of assurance that what they use is reliable, if not able to check the code in their own (having the code available is indeed very useful, but not enough in all cases). As for who should do the review, I wouldn't trust so much any user as I would an organization such as the JSS. If the latter is not possible, the first alternative is better than nothing. Best regards, - ~~ Diego Mazzeo Actuarial Science Student Facultad de Ciencias Económicas Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Re%3A-Packages---a-great-resource%2C-but-hard-to-find-the-right-one-tf4855917.html#a13937354 Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Antony, et. al.: Could this be better handled by just having a place on CRAN for users to express their (unedited/unrefereed, other than to keep thing within the bounds of civility and courteous information sharing) extended opinions rather than formal reviews, akin to the numerous websites hosting reviews of, e.g. consumer appliances or Amazon book reviews? Several contributors to this (worthwhile, IMHO) thread have noted the fluid, informal, and extremely diverse nature of packages. For this reason, I wonder if trying to fit them within the usual framework of persistent, long term, generally supported, widely applicable software is appropriate. Perhaps, given the innovative nature of R (and open source software in general?) we need to be similarly innovative in thinking about how to deal with the vexing problem of the embarassment of software riches that packages represent. My "unsolicited consumer reviews" suggestion above may not be sufficiently rigorous, but perhaps it may stimulate others to better approaches. Incidentally, I thought Hadley Wickham's comments about 1000 reviews adding to 1000 packages was on point; but wouldn't it be possible to index the reviews, Google style, to give a much wider "thesaurus" -- to quote another pertinent comment -- to help in searching? It certainly works pretty well for Google (and for my research this morning on "slow cookers"). -- Bert -- Bert Gunter Genentech Non-Clinical Statistics South San Francisco, CA "The business of the statistician is to catalyze the scientific learning process." - George E. P. Box > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Antony Unwin > Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 12:51 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to > find the right one > > Johannes H|sing wrote > > > > Above all there are lots of packages. As the software > editor of the > > > Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R > > > packages. > > > > You mean: prior to submission? > > No. > > > > No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I > > > think it would help. Any volunteers? > > > > Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the "here's a > > package for you to review by week 32" way. Rather in the way that > > I search a package which fits my problem. > > That's what I was hoping for. > > > One package lets me down > > and I'd like to know other users and the maintainer about it. > > The other one works black magic and I'd like to drop a raving > > review about it. This needs an infrastructure with a low barrier > > to entry. A wiki is not the worst idea if the initial infrastructure > > is geared at addressing problems rather than packages. > > We should differentiate between rave reviews of features that just > happened to be very useful to someone and reviews of a package as a > whole. Both have their place and at the moment we don't have either. > > If you are willing to review an R package or aspects of R for JSS > please let me know. > > Antony Unwin > Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, > Mathematics Institute, > University of Augsburg, > Germany > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
John Sorkin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote...
> As far as finding packages goes, I believe
> that R would be a better tool if a package
> finder were built into the R distribution
> and added to the menus presented by the R
> GUI. The package finder would allow the user
> to enter search words and the package finder
> would return a series of packages along with
> brief précis to each package and a link to
> package reviews. I know that this suggestion
> would require a lot of work
What would seem to come closest to this
presently is be to take Brian Ripley's advice,
install every package that will, and then
query the lot of them with help.search().
-John Thaden
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Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
This thread has generated a number of comments. My reading of the
messages is
(1) There are a number of ways to find packages, no one is perfect.
(2) Packages vary in quality and a review process that would help
identify better packages and
suggest improvements for packages would be helpful.
As far as finding packages goes, I believe that R would be a better
tool if a package finder were
built into the R distribution and added to the menus presented by the R
GUI. The package finder
would allow the user to enter search words and the package finder would
return a series of packages
along with brief précis to each package and a link to package reviews.
I know that this suggestion would
require a lot of work both by the R maintainers (to develop the search
system and make it a part of
the GUI), package developers (to add some form of metadata to there
packages) and the
R community (to write the reviews), but I think it is important if R is
to continue to grow and develop.
Currently we have a wonderful platform which has grown tremendously
over the years, which is
in danger of becoming less useful that it deserves to be because of a
lack of a centralized,
modern, easily searchable package finding system.
Thanks to all who contributed to the discussion.
John
John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Division of Gerontology
Baltimore VA Medical Center
10 North Greene Street
GRECC (BT/18/GR)
Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
(Phone) 410-605-7119
(Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> "hadley wickham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 11/24/07 10:56 AM >>>
> What do you mean here? Surely all packages authors aim to provide
reliable
> and effective software. If they know that they are offering
something
> unstable, they should say so clearly. In fact, they should wait
until it is
> stable. Most R users are not researchers, but users.
Now I'm beginning to wonder if you have ever used R ;) Yes, they
should wait until it is stable and free of bugs, but does this really
happen in reality? The quality of packages varies widely, and even in
the best package it's difficult to find all bugs before release?
> This web reference shows that you are thinking of a quite different
type of
> review. What help would that be to a user? (However helpful it
could be to
> another researcher).
I was suggesting that data would be useful when selecting which
packages to review, not as part of the review.
> You're right, the thread has moved on. No one would read either
1000
> reviews or 1000 brief paragraphs. Reviewing should help to raise
standards.
> Good reviewers would point out connections with other packages and
make
> comparisons. (Which does take us partway back to the original
thread.)
Which moves somewhat back towards my original suggestion of review
articles. To me, an article which compared and contrasted four or
five packages on a given topic would be much more useful than an
article which reviewed only a single package. I think basing reviews
around a specific topic/methodology would be more useful than basing
them around a single package.
Hadley
--
http://had.co.nz/
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Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
> What do you mean here? Surely all packages authors aim to provide reliable > and effective software. If they know that they are offering something > unstable, they should say so clearly. In fact, they should wait until it is > stable. Most R users are not researchers, but users. Now I'm beginning to wonder if you have ever used R ;) Yes, they should wait until it is stable and free of bugs, but does this really happen in reality? The quality of packages varies widely, and even in the best package it's difficult to find all bugs before release? > This web reference shows that you are thinking of a quite different type of > review. What help would that be to a user? (However helpful it could be to > another researcher). I was suggesting that data would be useful when selecting which packages to review, not as part of the review. > You're right, the thread has moved on. No one would read either 1000 > reviews or 1000 brief paragraphs. Reviewing should help to raise standards. > Good reviewers would point out connections with other packages and make > comparisons. (Which does take us partway back to the original thread.) Which moves somewhat back towards my original suggestion of review articles. To me, an article which compared and contrasted four or five packages on a given topic would be much more useful than an article which reviewed only a single package. I think basing reviews around a specific topic/methodology would be more useful than basing them around a single package. Hadley -- http://had.co.nz/ __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
On 23 Nov 2007, at 11:56 pm, hadley wickham wrote: > My argument is that package reviews are a rather strange beast, being > a review of something that is neither particularly stable What do you mean here? Surely all packages authors aim to provide reliable and effective software. If they know that they are offering something unstable, they should say so clearly. In fact, they should wait until it is stable. Most R users are not researchers, but users. > Should the review be written > for the package author (perhaps focussing on more technical/internal > details) or for the package-using public (focussing on the overall > philosophy and capabilities)? Primarily for the public. > The data available from > http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/cranberries/ (although not currently > arranged in the most useful form for that task) would useful to take > into account. This web reference shows that you are thinking of a quite different type of review. What help would that be to a user? (However helpful it could be to another researcher). > The problem that started this thread was a problem finding the > relevant R package and I'm not sure how package reviews would help. > You would now have 1,000 lengthy reviews to read through instead of > 1,000 brief paragraphs? You're right, the thread has moved on. No one would read either 1000 reviews or 1000 brief paragraphs. Reviewing should help to raise standards. Good reviewers would point out connections with other packages and make comparisons. (Which does take us partway back to the original thread.) > I have no arguments with the fact that a package review would be a > great learning opportunity for the author, but I'm still not sure what > it gains the wider community A review would help the wider community more and that should be the aim. Naturally authors would benefit as well. > (apart from having better software). Ah, that would be nice. Antony Unwin Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, Mathematics Institute, University of Augsburg, Germany [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
> This is a strange argument. A good package will get a good review, which > may help it to become better. A review of a weak package can point out how > it can be fixed. Reviews will not become stale, just because packages are > frequently updated by their authors (like some that could be mentioned). > These are generally smaller changes. A constructive review will not just be > concerned with details, but more with the overall aims of the package and > how they are achieved (or not achieved). My argument is that package reviews are a rather strange beast, being a review of something that is neither particularly stable nor remedied soon after the writing of the review. Should the review be written for the package author (perhaps focussing on more technical/internal details) or for the package-using public (focussing on the overall philosophy and capabilities)? This at least seems like something that should be considered when choosing which packages to review. The data available from http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/cranberries/ (although not currently arranged in the most useful form for that task) would useful to take into account. > Why should JSS, one of the few journals for statistical software, review > texts? Task views are a good idea, but are general. They give only a brief > and subjective overview (and can hardly be expected to do more). The problem that started this thread was a problem finding the relevant R package and I'm not sure how package reviews would help. You would now have 1,000 lengthy reviews to read through instead of 1,000 brief paragraphs? That said, package reviews could clearly be useful in their own right, as peer feedback for authors, and to provide more information for the general public. > If you were not an enthusiastic author of many R packages I would start to > think that you are afraid of being reviewed, Hadley! What have you against > someone studying a package, a group of packages or some other aspect of R in > detail? Maybe I had better start reviewers on your packages first... I would be very happy to volunteer my packages for review, and I'd happily review a package for every package of mine that gets reviewed. I have no arguments with the fact that a package review would be a great learning opportunity for the author, but I'm still not sure what it gains the wider community (apart from having better software). Hadley -- http://had.co.nz/ __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
R as a whole could benefit from systematic attention. There may be scope for several special issues of JSS. - R overview and philosophy - R penetration and influence, in the statistics community, in machine learning, and in a variety of application areas. - R as a vehicle for fostering communication between researchers in diverse areas. [A great thing about R-help, though nowadays this role is passing across to other lists such as R-sig-ME, is that it facilitates and even forces communication between application area specialists, and between those specialists and statistics professionals. This may be temporary; we may see the R community fragment into diverse communities that focus on their own specialist interests? Scope for a sociological study, perhaps?) - "Who is using R?", as reflected in published scientific literature. (I'd like to see a wiki or somesuch where authors are encouraged to give details of published analyses that have used R.) - Where is R headed? How will the shaping of its direction proceed? Will it be a matter of step by step change and improvement, or is it (will it be) possible to lay out in advance an outline of the directions that its future development can be expected to take. - Traps for new (and old) users. - Books and papers on R. - Then onto packages! I guess what may be in order is something like the expansion of a task view into an extended paper. John Maindonald email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone : +61 2 (6125)3473fax : +61 2(6125)5549 Centre for Mathematics & Its Applications, Room 1194, John Dedman Mathematical Sciences Building (Building 27) Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200. On 23 Nov 2007, at 10:00 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > From: Antony Unwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 23 November 2007 7:50:52 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the > right one > > > Johannes Hüsing wrote > >>> Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the >>> Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R >>> packages. >> >> You mean: prior to submission? > > No. > >>> No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I >>> think it would help. Any volunteers? >> >> Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the "here's a >> package for you to review by week 32" way. Rather in the way that >> I search a package which fits my problem. > > That's what I was hoping for. > >> One package lets me down >> and I'd like to know other users and the maintainer about it. >> The other one works black magic and I'd like to drop a raving >> review about it. This needs an infrastructure with a low barrier >> to entry. A wiki is not the worst idea if the initial infrastructure >> is geared at addressing problems rather than packages. > > We should differentiate between rave reviews of features that just > happened to be very useful to someone and reviews of a package as a > whole. Both have their place and at the moment we don't have either. > > If you are willing to review an R package or aspects of R for JSS > please let me know. > > Antony Unwin > Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, > Mathematics Institute, > University of Augsburg, > Germany [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
On 23 Nov 2007, at 4:51 pm, hadley wickham wrote: > There are two common types of review. When reviewing a paper, you are > helping the author to make a better paper (and it's initiated by the > author). When reviewing a book, you are providing advise on whether > someone should make an expensive purchase (and it's initiated by an > third party). Reviewing an R package seems somewhat in between. How > would you deal with new version of an R package? It seems like there > is the potential for reviews to become stale very quickly. This is a strange argument. A good package will get a good review, which may help it to become better. A review of a weak package can point out how it can be fixed. Reviews will not become stale, just because packages are frequently updated by their authors (like some that could be mentioned). These are generally smaller changes. A constructive review will not just be concerned with details, but more with the overall aims of the package and how they are achieved (or not achieved). > Another model to look at would be that of an encyclopedia, something > like the existing task views. To me, it would be of more benefit if > JSS provided support, peer review, and regular review, for these. Why should JSS, one of the few journals for statistical software, review texts? Task views are a good idea, but are general. They give only a brief and subjective overview (and can hardly be expected to do more). > Entries would be more of a survey, and could provide links to the > literature, much like a chapter of MASS. If you were not an enthusiastic author of many R packages I would start to think that you are afraid of being reviewed, Hadley! What have you against someone studying a package, a group of packages or some other aspect of R in detail? Maybe I had better start reviewers on your packages first... Thanks to several people who have contacted me independently and offered to review packages, I'll keep the list informed about how that goes. Apologies for JSS's webpage being down to-day, Jan de Leuw tells me it's something to do with Thanksgiving weekend. Antony Unwin Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, Mathematics Institute, University of Augsburg, Germany [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Antony Unwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and Johannes
Huesing <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> discussed ways to assist
navigation of the universe of R packages.
AU:
>>> ...R is a language and the suggestions so far seem to
>>> me like dictionary suggestions, whereas maybe what John
>>> is looking for is something more like a thesarus.
JH:
>> This is hard to do in a collaborative effort. One analogue
>> is the HOWTOs vs the man pages which I see in Linux. Some
>> of the HOWTOs are outstanding, the only problem they are
>> facing is that they tend to be out of date.
...
>> I am still putting some hope into the R Wiki. To my
>> dismay it is also package oriented, not method-oriented.
>> I tend to think that there is a chance of controlled
>> documentation if somebody set out an infrastructure
>> going beyond the current one. Anything like a classification
>> of methods.
What about Views? http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Views/
Is this effort alive? Views allow easy downloading of packages
grouped by methodology, with an accompanying overview. But
Views would seem to be at risk of going out of date.
Or what about what an approach seen on many commercial sites?
What if CRAN package download pages had a mechanism for submitting
reviews and for reading reviews of others? I notice such reviews
of books and software often mention competing products. For those
interfacing with CRAN via download.packages() and
update.packages() commands, or via 'packages' menu items,
could these be amended to invite users to submit/read reviews?
Or this 'amazon.com' idea: if the community were not resistant
to a login mechanism, what if CRAN pages named 10 packages,
related to the featured one by how frequently recent
downloaders also downloaded them?
AU:
>>> As the software editor of the Journal of Statistical
>>> Software I suggested we should review R packages.
>>> No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion
>>> but I think it would help. Any volunteers?
JH:
>> Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the
>> "here's a package for you to review by week 32" way.
>> Rather in the way that I search a package which fits
>> my problem.
AU:
> That's what I was hoping for.
JH:
>> One package lets me down and I'd like to know other users
>> and the maintainer about it. The other one works black magic
>> and I'd like to drop a raving review about it. This needs an
>> infrastructure with a low barrier to entry. A wiki is not
>> the worst idea if the initial infrastructure is geared at
>> addressing problems rather than packages.
AU:
> We should differentiate between rave reviews of features
> that just happened to be very useful to someone and reviews
> of a package as a whole. Both have their place and at the
> moment we don't have either.
> If you are willing to review an R package or aspects of
> R for JSS please let me know.
On the face of it, JSS reviews sound like a good idea. But
is there something wrong with the www.jstatsoft.com site?
Today, at least, I cannot connect. Would a Google search on
site:r-projects.org be likely to find a JSS review? Would
the review be freely downloadable? Would it too become out-
dated? I'll contact you, Antony, about a review I may be
qualified to write.
-John Thaden
Research Assistant Professor of Geriatrics
College of Medicine
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Arkansas USA
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including a...{{dropped:8}}
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Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
On 11/23/07, hadley wickham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the > > Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R > > packages. No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I > > think it would help. Any volunteers? > > There are two common types of review. When reviewing a paper, you are > helping the author to make a better paper (and it's initiated by the > author). When reviewing a book, you are providing advise on whether > someone should make an expensive purchase (and it's initiated by an > third party). Reviewing an R package seems somewhat in between. How > would you deal with new version of an R package? It seems like there > is the potential for reviews to become stale very quickly. > > Another model to look at would be that of an encyclopedia, something > like the existing task views. To me, it would be of more benefit if > JSS provided support, peer review, and regular review, for these. > Entries would be more of a survey, and could provide links to the > literature, much like a chapter of MASS. Yet another option would be to provide a site where users could post reviews and comments, much like the reviews on amazon. Hadley -- http://had.co.nz/ __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
> Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the > Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R > packages. No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I > think it would help. Any volunteers? There are two common types of review. When reviewing a paper, you are helping the author to make a better paper (and it's initiated by the author). When reviewing a book, you are providing advise on whether someone should make an expensive purchase (and it's initiated by an third party). Reviewing an R package seems somewhat in between. How would you deal with new version of an R package? It seems like there is the potential for reviews to become stale very quickly. Another model to look at would be that of an encyclopedia, something like the existing task views. To me, it would be of more benefit if JSS provided support, peer review, and regular review, for these. Entries would be more of a survey, and could provide links to the literature, much like a chapter of MASS. Hadley -- http://had.co.nz/ __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
I'm coming late to this thread, so I don't know if anyone mentioned RSiteSearch. See http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/R/library/utils/html/RSiteSearch.html You can also do this directly through a browser (which is how I usually do it). In the RSiteSearch() function use restrict="functions". In the web page at http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/, in the search page uncheck the boxes except for Functions. True, this doesn't get everything because people use different words for the same thing (especially economists), but I find that it usually works when I'm looking for a function. When you find the function, there is a header at the top that says what package it is in. Jon -- Jonathan Baron, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania Home page: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
> "JH" == Johannes Huesing <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:14:57 +0100 writes: JH> Antony Unwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [Thu, Nov 22, JH> 2007 at 12:43:07PM CET]: >> There have been several constructive responses to John >> Sorkin's comment, but none of them are fully >> satisfactory. Of course, if you know the name of the >> function you are looking for, there are lots of ways to >> search ? provided that everyone calls the function by a >> name that matches your search. JH> I follow the suggestion to Google (mostly restricted by JH> site:cran.r-project.org) which gets me quite far. >> If you think there might be a function, but you don't >> know the name, then you have to be lucky in how you >> search. R is a language and the suggestions so far seem >> to me like dictionary suggestions, whereas maybe what >> John is looking for is something more like a thesarus. JH> This is hard to do in a collaborative effort. One JH> analogue is the HOWTOs vs the man pages which I see in JH> Linux. Some of the HOWTOs are outstanding, the only JH> problem they are facing is that they tend to be out of JH> date. >> >> R packages are a strange collection, as befits a growing >> language. There are large packages, small packages, good >> packages (and not so good packages), personal mixtures of >> tools in packages, packages to accompany books, >> superceded packages, unusual packages, everything. Above >> all there are lots of packages. As the software editor >> of the Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we >> should review R packages. JH> You mean: prior to submission? >> No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but >> I think it would help. Any volunteers? JH> I am still putting some hope into the R Wiki. To my JH> dismay it is also package oriented, JH> not method-oriented. I don't think this is true; at least it's not at all intended. I'll *exceptionally* am crossposting this to the R-Wiki Special Interest Group. JH> I tend to think that there is a chance JH> of controlled documentation if somebody set out an JH> infrastructure going beyond the current one. Anything JH> like a classification of methods. JH> Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the JH> "here's a package for you to review by week 32" JH> way. Rather in the way that I search a package which JH> fits my problem. One package lets me down and I'd like JH> to know other users and the maintainer about it. The JH> other one works black magic and I'd like to drop a JH> raving review about it. This needs an infrastructure JH> with a low barrier to entry. A wiki is not the worst JH> idea if the initial infrastructure is geared at JH> addressing problems rather than packages. JH> -- Johannes H�sing __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Johannes Hüsing wrote > > Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the > > Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R > > packages. > > You mean: prior to submission? No. > > No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I > > think it would help. Any volunteers? > > Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the "here's a > package for you to review by week 32" way. Rather in the way that > I search a package which fits my problem. That's what I was hoping for. > One package lets me down > and I'd like to know other users and the maintainer about it. > The other one works black magic and I'd like to drop a raving > review about it. This needs an infrastructure with a low barrier > to entry. A wiki is not the worst idea if the initial infrastructure > is geared at addressing problems rather than packages. We should differentiate between rave reviews of features that just happened to be very useful to someone and reviews of a package as a whole. Both have their place and at the moment we don't have either. If you are willing to review an R package or aspects of R for JSS please let me know. Antony Unwin Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, Mathematics Institute, University of Augsburg, Germany [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
Antony Unwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [Thu, Nov 22, 2007 at 12:43:07PM CET]: > There have been several constructive responses to John Sorkin's > comment, but none of them are fully satisfactory. Of course, if you > know the name of the function you are looking for, there are lots of > ways to search ? provided that everyone calls the function by a name > that matches your search. I follow the suggestion to Google (mostly restricted by site:cran.r-project.org) which gets me quite far. > If you think there might be a function, > but you don't know the name, then you have to be lucky in how you > search. R is a language and the suggestions so far seem to me like > dictionary suggestions, whereas maybe what John is looking for is > something more like a thesarus. This is hard to do in a collaborative effort. One analogue is the HOWTOs vs the man pages which I see in Linux. Some of the HOWTOs are outstanding, the only problem they are facing is that they tend to be out of date. > > R packages are a strange collection, as befits a growing language. > There are large packages, small packages, good packages (and not so > good packages), personal mixtures of tools in packages, packages to > accompany books, superceded packages, unusual packages, everything. > Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the > Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R > packages. You mean: prior to submission? > No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I > think it would help. Any volunteers? I am still putting some hope into the R Wiki. To my dismay it is also package oriented, not method-oriented. I tend to think that there is a chance of controlled documentation if somebody set out an infrastructure going beyond the current one. Anything like a classification of methods. Thing is, I may like to volunteer, but not in the "here's a package for you to review by week 32" way. Rather in the way that I search a package which fits my problem. One package lets me down and I'd like to know other users and the maintainer about it. The other one works black magic and I'd like to drop a raving review about it. This needs an infrastructure with a low barrier to entry. A wiki is not the worst idea if the initial infrastructure is geared at addressing problems rather than packages. -- Johannes H�sing There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] from such a trifling investment of fact. http://derwisch.wikidot.com (Mark Twain, "Life on the Mississippi") __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one
There have been several constructive responses to John Sorkin's comment, but none of them are fully satisfactory. Of course, if you know the name of the function you are looking for, there are lots of ways to search provided that everyone calls the function by a name that matches your search. If you think there might be a function, but you don't know the name, then you have to be lucky in how you search. R is a language and the suggestions so far seem to me like dictionary suggestions, whereas maybe what John is looking for is something more like a thesarus. R packages are a strange collection, as befits a growing language. There are large packages, small packages, good packages (and not so good packages), personal mixtures of tools in packages, packages to accompany books, superceded packages, unusual packages, everything. Above all there are lots of packages. As the software editor of the Journal of Statistical Software I suggested we should review R packages. No one has shown any enthusiasm for this suggestion, but I think it would help. Any volunteers? Antony Unwin Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, Mathematics Institute, University of Augsburg, Germany [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
"John Sorkin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> The multitude of packages is one of the great strengths of R. Unfortunately there is no (or at least I am not aware of) any single source that lists all available packages and gives a synopsis of what each package does. One can install and load packages one-by-one and look at the help pages to see what each package does, but this is at best an inefficient and a worst a very frustrating task. Might there be a way to put together a searchable database that will allow a user to easily search for a given function or technique in all contributed packages? <<< Besides the excellent answers already given, don't overlook Google. Searching on "r statistics box-cox transform" turns up a reference to MASS as the third entry. When programming in any language, I now find it quicker to search for syntax (and other) help by Googling than to pull the reference manual off the shelf or start up an online help file. -- Mike Prager, NOAA, Beaufort, NC * Opinions expressed are personal and not represented otherwise. * Any use of tradenames does not constitute a NOAA endorsement. __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
Another useful search facility is http://www.rseek.org The nice thing is that it categorizes results by help-list items, R function etc. It might be closer to what you are looking for. -Christos Christos Hatzis, Ph.D. Nuvera Biosciences, Inc. 400 West Cummings Park Suite 5350 Woburn, MA 01801 Tel: 781-938-3830 www.nuverabio.com > -Original Message- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Prof Brian Ripley > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:01 AM > To: John Sorkin > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to > find the right one. > > On Wed, 21 Nov 2007, John Sorkin wrote: > > > Gabor, > > > The URL you cited is helpful, but it is not searchable. It > can not be > > used, for example, to easily determine that MASS can be used for > > boxcox tranforms. > > It is searchable (use your browser's search facilities), and > that is often helpful. But you can do your search at > search.r-project.org (thanks to Jonathan Baron): select > 'Complete list of all packages', select a package and browse its help. > > If you are looking for a way to do Box-Cox, or the function > boxcox(), search on that site, or for packages you already > have installed, use help.search(). One reason we find it > useful to have a system with all packages installed (that do > install) is to make it easy for our users to search for what > they want, and then use it. > > See also http://www.r-project.org/search.html > > > John > > > > John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D. > > > -- > Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ > University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) > 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) > Oxford OX1 3TG, UKFax: +44 1865 272595 > > __ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
On Wed, 2007-11-21 at 09:24 -0500, John Sorkin wrote:
> Fellow Rers,
>
> Please forgive me if I have posted this to the wrong R list serve.
>
> Over the course of the years that I have used R and participated in
> this list server, I have noted a large number of questions and answers
> that direct people to specific packages. The multitude of packages is
> one of the great strengths of R. Unfortunately there is no (or at
> least I am not aware of) any single source that lists all available
> packages and gives a synopsis of what each package does. One can
> install and load packages one-by-one and look at the help pages to
> see what each package does, but this is at best an inefficient and a
> worst a very frustrating task. Might there be a way to put together a
> searchable database that will allow a user to easily search for a
> given function or technique in all contributed packages?
You can get a synopsis from CRAN if the package description has been
filled in in sufficient detail.
Also, you can try ?RSiteSearch and give it terms for something you are
looking for, or view Jonathan Baron's web site directly:
http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/search.html
which includes CRAN packages, R functions (base and other packages in
distribution) and a few other sources, inc. Bioconductor.
There are also Task Views, which try to pool information for specific
fields:
http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Views/
HTH
G
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> P.S. Many thanks to the writers and maintainers of R packages and the
> many people who contribute to the R list server.
>
> John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
> University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
> Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
>
> University of Maryland School of Medicine
> Division of Gerontology
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
>
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Confidentiality Statement:
> This email message, including any attachments, is for th...{{dropped:6}}
>
> __
> R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
--
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Dr. Gavin Simpson [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522
ECRC, UCL Geography, [f] +44 (0)20 7679 0565
Pearson Building, [e] gavin.simpsonATNOSPAMucl.ac.uk
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Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007, John Sorkin wrote: > Gabor, > The URL you cited is helpful, but it is not searchable. It can not be > used, for example, to easily determine that MASS can be used for boxcox > tranforms. It is searchable (use your browser's search facilities), and that is often helpful. But you can do your search at search.r-project.org (thanks to Jonathan Baron): select 'Complete list of all packages', select a package and browse its help. If you are looking for a way to do Box-Cox, or the function boxcox(), search on that site, or for packages you already have installed, use help.search(). One reason we find it useful to have a system with all packages installed (that do install) is to make it easy for our users to search for what they want, and then use it. See also http://www.r-project.org/search.html > John > > John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D. -- Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UKFax: +44 1865 272595 __ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
Gabor,
The URL you cited is helpful, but it is not searchable. It can not be used, for
example, to easily determine that MASS can be used for boxcox tranforms.
John
John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Division of Gerontology
Baltimore VA Medical Center
10 North Greene Street
GRECC (BT/18/GR)
Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
(Phone) 410-605-7119
(Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Gabor Csardi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 11/21/07 9:31 AM >>>
John, what about
http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/PACKAGES.html
Isn't this good enough? You might also take a look at
http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Views/
Gabor
On Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 09:24:14AM -0500, John Sorkin wrote:
> Fellow Rers,
>
> Please forgive me if I have posted this to the wrong R list serve.
>
> Over the course of the years that I have used R and participated in
> this list server, I have noted a large number of questions and
> answers that direct people to specific packages. The multitude of
> packages is one of the great strengths of R. Unfortunately there is
> no (or at least I am not aware of) any single source that lists all
> available packages and gives a synopsis of what each package
> does. One can install and load packages one-by-one and look at the
> help pages to see what each package does, but this is at best an
> inefficient and a worst a very frustrating task. Might there be a
> way to put together a searchable database that will allow a user to
> easily search for a given function or technique in all contributed
> packages?
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> P.S. Many thanks to the writers and maintainers of R packages and
> the many people who contribute to the R list server.
>
> John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
> University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
> Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
>
> University of Maryland School of Medicine
> Division of Gerontology
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
>
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Confidentiality Statement:
> This email message, including any attachments, is for ...{{dropped:19}}
__
R-help@r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Re: [R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
John, what about
http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/PACKAGES.html
Isn't this good enough? You might also take a look at
http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/Views/
Gabor
On Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 09:24:14AM -0500, John Sorkin wrote:
> Fellow Rers,
>
> Please forgive me if I have posted this to the wrong R list serve.
>
> Over the course of the years that I have used R and participated in
> this list server, I have noted a large number of questions and
> answers that direct people to specific packages. The multitude of
> packages is one of the great strengths of R. Unfortunately there is
> no (or at least I am not aware of) any single source that lists all
> available packages and gives a synopsis of what each package
> does. One can install and load packages one-by-one and look at the
> help pages to see what each package does, but this is at best an
> inefficient and a worst a very frustrating task. Might there be a
> way to put together a searchable database that will allow a user to
> easily search for a given function or technique in all contributed
> packages?
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> P.S. Many thanks to the writers and maintainers of R packages and
> the many people who contribute to the R list server.
>
> John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
> University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
> Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
>
> University of Maryland School of Medicine
> Division of Gerontology
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
>
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Confidentiality Statement:
> This email message, including any attachments, is for ...{{dropped:11}}
__
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[R] Packages - a great resource, but hard to find the right one.
Fellow Rers,
Please forgive me if I have posted this to the wrong R list serve.
Over the course of the years that I have used R and participated in this list
server, I have noted a large number of questions and answers that direct people
to specific packages. The multitude of packages is one of the great strengths
of R. Unfortunately there is no (or at least I am not aware of) any single
source that lists all available packages and gives a synopsis of what each
package does. One can install and load packages one-by-one and look at the
help pages to see what each package does, but this is at best an inefficient
and a worst a very frustrating task. Might there be a way to put together a
searchable database that will allow a user to easily search for a given
function or technique in all contributed packages?
Thanks,
John
P.S. Many thanks to the writers and maintainers of R packages and the many
people who contribute to the R list server.
John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC,
University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper OAIC,
University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and
Baltimore VA Center Stroke of Excellence
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Division of Gerontology
Baltimore VA Medical Center
10 North Greene Street
GRECC (BT/18/GR)
Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
(Phone) 410-605-7119
(Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
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R-help@r-project.org mailing list
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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
