[Rd] CRAN Task Views: ctv package available

[Achim Zeileis]

Dear developeRs,

in the last month I mentioned in several discussions on R-help that Kurt
and I were working on tools for "CRAN Task Views" which should help to
structure the fast-growing list of packages on CRAN.

Now the first version of a package called ctv (for CRAN Task Views) is
available from CRAN and also two frist drafts for such views can be seen
at 
  http://CRAN.R-project.org/src/contrib/Views/

When you install the ctv package you can also query this from within R
via:
  CRAN.views()
  install.views("Econometrics", lib = "/path/to/foo")

New views can be easily written in an XML-based format from which we can
generate the HTML information displayed on the Web and also the
information needed for querying the views via CRAN.views(). The package
contains a short vignette that explains how to write new task views.

Feedback on the package would be very welcome! Furthermore, if you want
to write and maintain a new task view for a certain topic, that would be
great! Just drop me an e-mail with your suggestion.

Best wishes from Vienna,
Z