renv
ranger
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renv
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Every modeler is supposed to be a great Python programmer
As I alluded to, renv exists, but it requires a lot of development work before it is a comparably robust option for the ecosystem. Basic things like a command-line interface [0], working with non-CRAN repos [1], using an existing DESCRIPTION file [2], etc. There are many use cases where renv does not work in a corporate environment (ie not open-source all public code scenarios). Some of those issues have been open for years.
I do not believe the situation is unsolvable, but there is significant work to be done. Renv provides value today, and I will encourage everyone to use it. However, it has significant blind spots which continue to make R deployments challenging.
[0] https://github.com/rstudio/renv/issues/1055
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What is your favorite R package and why?
renv for managing packages in projects.
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New package ‘box’: Write reusable, composable and modular R code
Oh wow! That is crazy!
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Groundhog: Addressing the Threat That R Poses to Reproducible Research
I’ve yet to use it personally, but renv [1] seems to try to solve the reproducible builds problem in a way more similar to other modern package managers (e.g. by generating a lockfile).
This approach enables stricter validations against tampering with the package repositories as a hash of the package can be stored in the lockfile, however it is obviously a bit more complex to use than the groundhog approach.
[1]: https://github.com/rstudio/renv
ranger
- Ranger random forest with beta splits really slow?
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What is your favorite R package and why?
caret and tidymodels are one higher level of abstraction from glmnet. caret and tidymodels allow you to write reusable code that can apply to multiple different kinds of models like glmnet-style regularized regression, ranger-style random forests, mars-style regression, etc. This kind of abstraction is helpful when you're comparing different models or combining models and want to minimize new code written per model.
What are some alternatives?
groundhog - Reproducible R Scripts Via Date Controlled Installing & Loading of CRAN & Git Packages
dlookr - Tools for Data Diagnosis, Exploration, Transformation
box - Write reusable, composable and modular R code
keyring - :closed_lock_with_key: Access the system credential store from R
Prophet - Tool for producing high quality forecasts for time series data that has multiple seasonality with linear or non-linear growth.
plotnine - A Grammar of Graphics for Python