[R] Review process for new packages

[Anupam Tyagi]

Hello,

Duncan Murdoch <murdoch <at> stats.uwo.ca> writes:

> 
> On 10/17/2006 2:22 AM, Andreas Wittmann wrote:
> > Hi all, 
> > 
> > i'm currently working on a creditmetrics package which includes functions
for computing the credit risk
> model creditmetrics. I guess it would be finished in a few days. 
> > 
> > My question now is, does there exist some review process before sending it
to ctan or is it reviewed after
> having sended it?
> 
> There's no review process to decide whether your package is useful or 
> well-written.  If you want that kind of review you should submit it to 
> the Journal of Statistical Software.

Although, this is a sensitive issue, it is unfortunate that such review (or
comment, if that is a more suitable word) process is not available at R. Is it
possible to have some process where people can provide "comments", even if it is
not a journal "review". It can help in improving the quality of packages
submitted to R, in reducing bugs, or simply catching errors (coding and
non-coding) that the author may have over-looked by mistake. Will contributing
something to R, on provisional basis, and then asking for comments, and then
submitting a final version work? 

It may also help to require the author to include a mathematical description of
what has been submitted, if it is a statistical function. This be because most
new users find it difficult to read R code at the level of functions. They may
also not be familiar with the statistical concept, but may know about it
mathematically---because different disciplines have differentiated their
specialized terminology (with some variation) as discipline specific statistical
applications have evolved. I think this will make R more accessible to a wider
user-base. 
---Anupam.