[R] Chatbot -generated R Code

[Hans W]

SORRY if I missed such a discussion somewhere on R-HELP

For many years I wanted to write an R function that finds the closest pair of
points among a, maybe huge, set of points on the 2-dimensional plane. I never
did, perhaps considering the possible complexity of this task.

Now I found a book, among others describing the "sweeping algorithm", perfectly
suited for the problem. And as a test, I questioned chatbots like DeepSeek and
ChatGPT about such a function - and mentioned the sweeping algorithm.

DeepSeek, for instance, came immediately up with a complete, efficient solution
and test cases that I checked with brute force. I can see that it utilized the
sweeping algorithm, documented the code, and set up a help file. I made some
changes, improved the code a bit, but still it is code generated by a clever
chatbot, whatever I do.

Now I ask myself: Is this a correct and lawful way to write code in the future?
I am not even sure DeepSeek may not have used an implementation of the sweeping
algorithm that is under ACM license and would not be allowed on CRAN.

I wonder how one handles this matter? Will this be the future of code writing
(for R and other languages)? I would really appreciate to hear your opinion or
a hint to a discussion about it.

Hans Werner