[R] R package organization

[Jonathan Baron]

On 04/03/02 09:44, Michael Friendly wrote:
>
>>6)  Better layout of packages listed on CRAN.  This listing
>format will
>>collapse under its own weight once it gets too large.
>>
>
>As a new R user, I have thought for some time that the organization
>of packages, and functions within packages, in R needs some more
>coherent structure, perhaps something like the hierarchy of classes
>used in Perl and contributed to CPAN.  For example, Perl modules
>are listed on CPAN organized in a tree containing top-level categories
>like [...]

As an occasional CPAN user, I never use this and doubt I ever
will.  I usually go there for some specific thing that I hear
about somewhere else or find through Google (e.g., html2latex).

I tend to think that the effort involved in making a good
classification would be better spent in making better search
tools, or something else altogether.  I also think that CRAN may
require a lot more expertise to understand than CPAN does.

But there is a simple way to settle this.  You, or anyone, could
copy the CRAN page and re-organize it.  Announce it, and ask for
comments.  See if it flies.

Jon Baron
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