[Rd] Patch to add Beta binomial distribution. Mentor needed!

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On 05/06/2012 09:25, Ben Bolker wrote:
> Joan Maspons<j.maspons<at>  creaf.uab.cat>  writes:
>
>>
>> 2012/6/1 Tim Triche, Jr.<tim.triche<at>  gmail.com>
>>
>>> It's in VGAM, remember?  Not a bug.
>>>
>>> --
>>> *A model is a lie that helps you see the truth.*
>>> *
>>> *
>>> Howard Skipper<http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/31/9/1173.full.pdf>
>>>
>>>
>> Yes, it's a wish, not a bug. I would like a faster implementation in c and
>> including quantile function. pbetabin calls qbetabin and sums from 0 to q
>> using a loop. It can be avoided using genhypergeo function from hypergeo
>> package [1] but it adds a dependency and for some parameters it doesn't
>> converge.
>>
>> In the other hand I think that these functions should be implemented in a
>> more neutral place to avoid that packages interested in this distribution
>> have to depend on VGAM. I'm also interested in the Beta negative binomial
>> distribution which I think it's not implemented (this will be the second
>> round). And last but not least I want to learn.
>
>    I really think your chances of getting this wish accepted are tiny.
> If you want to avoid additional dependencies, you have at least the
> *legal* right to take any piece of code you want from any open-source
> (BSD, GPL, ...) package and package it your own little package
> (provided it follows the rules of the original license) that
> includes only the stuff you need, without any other dependencies.  It's
> polite to ask for permission and acknowledge the original authors ...

It is not just polite.  You need to comply with copyright law, and it is 
very likely that requires acknowledgement.  So do CRAN's policies (and 
we've removed several packages already this year for misrepresentation 
of the work of others).

>    Ben Bolker
>
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-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
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