Tag: Packages

So many R Packages Everywhere, which one do I use? #rstats

Some thoughts on R Packages

  • CRAN is no longer the sole repository for many useful R packages. This includes R Forge, Google Code and increasingly Github
  • CRAN lacks the flexibility and social aspect of Github.
  • CRAN Views is the only thing that lists subject wide listing of R packages. The categorization is however done more on methods than on use cases or business domains.
  • Multiple R packages for the same thing. Which one do I use? Only Stack Overflow helps with that. No rating , no recommendation system
  • The packages suggested by R package feature needs better and automatic association analysis . Right now it is manual and dependent on package author and maintainer.

  • Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who guards the guardians of R packages. In an era of cyber security, we need better transparency on security measures within R packages especially given the international nature of the project.  I am very sure I ( or anyone) can create R code to communicate discretely especially on Windows

  • I would rather not install anything on my local machine, and read the package directly from the CRAN . CRAN was designed in an era of low bandwidth- this needs to be upgraded.
  • Note I am refraining respectfully from the atrocious nature of aesthetics in the home website. Many statisticians feel no use of making R user friendly. My professors at U tenn (from which I dropped out in 2 sems) were horrified when I took courses in graphic design as I wanted to know more on the A and B, which make the A/B testing of statistical design. Now that I am getting older, I get horrified by the lack of HTML, CSS and JQuery by some of the brightest programmers in this project.
  • Please comment below.

 

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