Dear developeRs,
in the last month I mentioned in several discussions on R-help that Kurt
and I were working on tools for "CRAN Task Views" which should help to
structure the fast-growing list of packages on CRAN.
Now the first version of a package called ctv (for CRAN Task Views) is
available from CRAN and also two frist drafts for such views can be seen
at
http://CRAN.R-project.org/src/contrib/Views/
When you install the ctv package you can also query this from within R
via:
CRAN.views()
install.views("Econometrics", lib = "/path/to/foo")
New views can be easily written in an XML-based format from which we can
generate the HTML information displayed on the Web and also the
information needed for querying the views via CRAN.views(). The package
contains a short vignette that explains how to write new task views.
Feedback on the package would be very welcome! Furthermore, if you want
to write and maintain a new task view for a certain topic, that would be
great! Just drop me an e-mail with your suggestion.
Best wishes from Vienna,
Z
If I understand this correctly, I think it is a great idea. Just to be sure I do understand, would you expect there might also be a "Time Series" view, which would probably overlap some with the "Econometrics" view? Paul Gilbert Achim Zeileis wrote:> Dear developeRs, > > in the last month I mentioned in several discussions on R-help that Kurt > and I were working on tools for "CRAN Task Views" which should help to > structure the fast-growing list of packages on CRAN. > > Now the first version of a package called ctv (for CRAN Task Views) is > available from CRAN and also two frist drafts for such views can be seen > at > http://CRAN.R-project.org/src/contrib/Views/ > > When you install the ctv package you can also query this from within R > via: > CRAN.views() > install.views("Econometrics", lib = "/path/to/foo") > > New views can be easily written in an XML-based format from which we can > generate the HTML information displayed on the Web and also the > information needed for querying the views via CRAN.views(). The package > contains a short vignette that explains how to write new task views. > > Feedback on the package would be very welcome! Furthermore, if you want > to write and maintain a new task view for a certain topic, that would be > great! Just drop me an e-mail with your suggestion. > > Best wishes from Vienna, > Z > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel >
Hello! First of all congratulations for a nice approach to present "R fields" in more coherent way. When I started with R I was often frustrated with long list of packages, similarities between them, ... If I would take a slow approach (one thing at a time) things would be easier from the start, but usually one wants to know what a new program is capable of. This is esential if one wants really to switch to R. About ctv:>> Paul Gilbert wrote: >> For my own purposes the "Econometrics" view is just fine, but I do >> sometimes get questions about dse from people in fields that are >> different enough that they might not even know to look in >> "Econometrics." A time series view might be useful even if it only >> said see also ... . Another approach to this might be to have >> sub-views so, for example, "Econometrics" and "Control theory" could >> both point to "Time series."> Achim Zeileis responded: > Yes, that is, of course, an obvious idea but it requires more > coordination between the different views, hence we've decided not to > support hierarchically ordered views. > Re: "ControlTheory". If someone would raise his hand and provide a view > for that, it would be great. It could, of course, link to the > "Econometrics" view (and vice versa) but they wouldn't have a formally > defined subset in a "TimeSeries" view.I think that there is a lot of "fields" where this views cover the same stuff. When I first read about ctv I thought it will be implemented more in somewhat "hierarchical" or kind of "multiple" way, since for example linear models come usefull in many different fields and some people might never look under "Econometrics" view as Paul stated. I realize that "hierarchical/multiple" is far from easy and I do not have any clear idea how to implement it, but it would probably easier to maintain larger set of views in such a way and it would be easier to generate new ones. -- Lep pozdrav / With regards, Gregor GORJANC ----------------------------------------------------------------------- University of Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty URI: http://www.bfro.uni-lj.si/MR/ggorjan Zootechnical Department mail: gregor.gorjanc <at> bfro.uni-lj.si Groblje 3 tel: +386 (0)1 72 17 861 SI-1230 Domzale fax: +386 (0)1 72 17 888 Slovenia, Europe
Gregor:>> I think that there is a lot of "fields" where this views cover the same >> stuff. When I first read about ctv I thought it will be implemented more >> in somewhat "hierarchical" or kind of "multiple" way, since for example >> linear models come usefull in many different fields and some people might >> never look under "Econometrics" view as Paul stated. >> >> I realize that "hierarchical/multiple" is far from easy and I do not have >> any clear idea how to implement it, but it would probably easier to maintain >> larger set of views in such a way and it would be easier to generate new >> ones.Achim> Yes, the implementation would not be the main problem, but the > maintenance. For hierarchical views, there needs to be much more > communication and coordination between the maintainers of related views. > My idea was to keep the work low for the maintainers...hoping that there > would be more people volunteering to maintain a view related to their > field of research or application.Yes, you are right about needed work. Anyway, one can copy some parts from different views and create a new one ;) Regards, Gregor