[Rd] What would make R easier to use for you (and sos version 1.4-1 and useR!2017)

[Spencer Graves]

***
*** WHAT WOULD MAKE R EASIER TO USE FOR YOU?
***


       The useR! 2017 conference in Brussels, July 4-7, will include a 
session in which attendees will be invited to offer their thoughts in at 
least three areas:


             * A common interface for similar functions.  For example, 
John C. Nash and others have taken the lead in developing packages to 
provide one standard call that will work for different algorithms for 
numerical optimization (optimr) and nonlinear regression.   Something 
similar could be done for the at least 25 different functions for 
singular value decomposition and principal components.


             * Improving Task Views.  Julia Silge will lead a discussion 
at useR! 2017 on what might be done to make it easier for the Task Views 
to be updated and made more useful.  [Is one option using a wiki for 
that?  I have over 2,600 edits in Wikimedia projects, and I know both 
the strengths and weaknesses of their software and culture.]


             * Searching for R packages, not just a single function: 
CRAN now includes over 10,000 different packages.  I know of two 
facilities for searching for R packages:


***
*** x <- findFn('asdf'); writeFindFn2xls(x)
***


       The initial release of the sos package included a capability to 
write the search results to an Excel file.  However, it's unclear how 
many users know about this capability.


       The recently released version 1.4-1 of "sos" modified the HTML 
display so the first few lines describe how to get a package summary. 
[In particular, "???asdf" opens a page in a web browser that begins with 
<<"x <- findFn(string = 'asdf')";  For a package summary: 
"installPackages(x); writeFindFn2xls(x)">>.]


***
*** rdocumentation.org
***


        The web site "rdocumentation.org" provides a completely 
web-based search capability that can produce a summary by packages. I 
think this web interface is easier to use than "sos", but the sos 
package summary is more useful.  It might be nice to combine the two 
some way.


***
*** Your turn
***

       What would you like to see in a search capability associated with R?


       I'd like a web-based facility that could easily produce a package 
summary table with columns like Package, Count, MaxScore, TotalScore, 
Date, Title, Version, Author, Maintainer, helpPages, vignette -- 
possibly with other column(s) for something like "book(s)" or 
"additional documentation":  When I'm searching for something, I often 
want to know if a package has a vignette, companion book(s) or 
additional documentation.  I believe I can easily add a URL to that 
display;  I plan to do so in the next month.  I could envision including 
a companion book or references if the package DESCRIPTION file 
specifications were modified to invite package developers to specify 
such in a standard way.


       What do you think?
       I hope to see you in Brussels and hear your thoughts on this 
before then.
       Spencer Graves