[R-sig-Debian] Is r2u at 4.3.1 [edited]?

[Chris Evans]

Huge thanks for both replies Dirk, I'm replying to this one first, the 
other probably tomorrow when I've thought more.

This got long but I think most on the list can just [skip|delete] as 
it's not for them!

However, I hope this may help a few others in my rather marginal 
position on this and other R lists and maybe help others like yourself 
who do so much to make R as accessible as possible to as many as possible.

On 16/08/2023 15:10, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
> Chris,
>
> I edited the README.md for r2u (also the main page at
> https://eddelbuettel.github.io/r2u) in a few places, that should hopefully
> address a few of the snafus you found.

That has clearly tweaked the issue of the versions and I can also see 
that you have made some other changes that do look clearer to me.

That takes me into something that is perhaps very tangential ... but 
perhaps not.

I suspect that I'm in a very small minority of R users:

  * I'm not a programmer and have had no programming education (except
    one week introduction to Fortan as a freebie for undergraduates when
    I hit university in 1975!)
  * so all my programming is self-taught, bad, and now pretty much only
    in R!
  * I do try to do everything I can using open source s'ware hence I run
    Ubuntu (for some years now, previously Debian for ages)
  * I'm not a statistician either and have even less formal statistical
    training than computing training!
  * I do love (>95% of the time!) R and get things done in it as my
    substantive niche (psychotherapy/MH research) hasn't given me access
    to statisticians since about 1990
  * I try to do things in R both to solve what I need to do to crunch
    data but also to make it easier for practitioner researchers to use
    R and get rid of SPSS and Excel

So I think I'm an oddity but perhaps not unique.  Sometimes, as you 
suggested I think in your other post, I can be useful to provide things 
that might help others who lack the skills and experience that I think 
so many on this list and other R lists have use things and I'm very 
happy to try to do that for r2u as I'm sure I should be transferring to 
using it (more in response to your other kind reply).

I have an "Rblog" (https://github.com/cpsyctc/CECPfuns not a very good 
name for it but too late to change it now) and I think I need to create 
a "How to use r2u if you use R on Ubuntu but are at my level of IT 
knowledge" post.  That's because I think what you have above is correct 
for your likely audience but goes a bit beyond me and any others in my 
little niche in places.  Responses to your next bit may help explain why 
I say that.

>
> As for your question 'is r2u running R version x.y.z' there are few way to
> find out
>
>   - if you have docker:  docker run --rm -ti rocker/r2u
>     with the default 'latest' tag for 22.04, tags 22.04 and 20.04 also work
I have stayed away from docker having only a fairly tenuous 
understanding of it and on the basis that my ageing brain needs to be 
sure the gains from learning new things will outweigh the time it will 
take me to get up to speed with the ideas.  I saw docker as likely to be 
brilliant on that balance for people writing and sharing apps but all I 
write and share is very clunky, R code only, github R package: CECPfuns 
(https://github.com/cpsyctc/CECPfuns).  Not convinced that's the wrong 
choice but for now, no docking for me I think.
>
>   - in the webbrowser (!!) as long demonstrated on that page via gitpad.io
Is that the section headed "Via gitpod.io"?  If so, similar issue to 
docker: I haven't gone into gitpond or ...
>
>   - in the webbrowser (!!) or via the 'code' editor as added last weekend in
>     a new vignette https://eddelbuettel.github.io/r2u/vignettes/Codespaces/
>     (also on my blog, and tweeted & tooted about).
Codespaces (nor, I confess, your blog!)
>
> That last part is compelling as GitHub gives a number of free compute hours
> for codespace on either a 2-core, 4gb instance or a 4-core, 16gb instance
> which is really not too shabby. (Instead of clicking on '+' select '...' and
> 'new with options', pick bigger instance and/or other options).

So I see now, but feels like another layer of complexity to understand 
... of course, as with docker and gitpod.io, maybe it would repay 
learning but I suspect I'm not alone in being reluctant to learn these 
things when running R, Rstudio and Ubuntu (and now an shiny server) has 
been enough for me!

Sorry if I'm sounding ungrateful and cowardly ... maybe I am the sole 
inhabitant of my timid but actually profoundly grateful niche in the 
R/Linux ecospheres!

Tomorrow now for my next steps to understand the issue with 
libmagick++-dev which are really OT, and to come back to r2u responding 
to your other, wonderful, Email.

Many thanks again!

>
> Cheers, Dirk
>
-- 
Chris Evans (he/him)
Visiting Professor, UDLA, Quito, Ecuador & Honorary Professor, 
University of Roehampton, London, UK.
Work web site: https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/
CORE site: http://www.coresystemtrust.org.uk/
Personal site: https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/
Emeetings (Thursdays): 
https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/booking-meetings-with-me/
(Beware: French time, generally an hour ahead of UK)
<https://ombook.psyctc.org/book>