Is This Software Package Any Good?

Overview

Teaching: 20 min
Exercises: 0 min

Questions

Objectives

How do I find packages to use?

• CRAN? List packages by date
• GitHub? GH for VTrack
• literature reviews? Navigating through the R packages for movement. (Joo et al, 2019)

How do I learn the right way to use them?

• Most importantly, are there Vignettes that are legible and show you how this package fits your intended workflow?

Should I keep this?

Checking the Pulse of a Package

• Open source?
• Regular updates?
• Tickets being submitted, addressed, and resolved?

Can I cite this?

You’ll want to cite the exact version of any complex software package thatr you’re depending on heavily so others can reproduce your work.

• Does it have a version number?
  • CRAN will enforce this.
  • If it’s not on CRAN, does it tag versions for reference? e.g: https://gitlab.oceantrack.org/GreatLakes/glatos/-/releases
• Does it have an introductory publication / white paper? a vignette that describes the preferred citation method? e.g. adehabitat

What’s most important to the user?

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Software Package Needs
  • Stanley Siebert of the Anaconda Project updated a very familiar diagram with what is important to software developers adopting new software into their workflows.
  • These priorities will also help you and the people who follow after you to implement and carry forward the scripts/code/packages you will one day build.

  

Key Points