R Weekly Highlights

In this episode of R Weekly Highlights we hear from industry experts on how they choose a programming language for their projects, a big boost to the use of copilot for building your next Shiny app, and the learning journey of a new R user.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Sam Parmar - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @parmsam_ (X/Twitter)
• Which programming language should I use? A guide for early-career researchers
• Reliable Shiny Code with Copilot and Posit’s VS Code Extension
• My Journey Learning R as a Humanities Undergrad
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W18

Supplement Resources

• R for Data Science 2nd Edition https://r4ds.hadley.nz/
• Data Science Learning Community https://dslc.io/
• IssueTrackeR https://tanguybarthelemy.github.io/IssueTrackeR 
• 3MW (Scalable reporting with Quarto) https://3mw.albert-rapp.de/p/scalable-reporting-with-quarto

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
   
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Secrets Abound - Final Fantasy - Midgarian Sky - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02452
• Voodoo, Roots 'n Grog - The Secret of Monkey Island - Alex Jones, Diggi Dis - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02180

It's not every day that we get to dive into a brand new release of R, but we get to do just that in episode 202! We share our takes on the major new features of R 4.5.0. We also preview the re-imagination of the engine powering R-based APIs, and the LLM-powered helper to get some of those R package development chores done.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) & @theRcast (X/Twitter)
• What's new in R 4.5.0?
• plumber2
• Introducing chores
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W16

Supplement Resources

• {basepenguins} Convert files that use palmerpenguins to work with datasets https://ellakaye.github.io/basepenguins/
• Upgrading from {plumber} https://posit-dev.github.io/plumber2/articles/migration.html
• {chores} gallery https://simonpcouch.github.io/chores/articles/gallery.html
• {chores} custom helpers https://simonpcouch.github.io/chores/articles/custom.html

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Put the lime in the Koopa shell and drink it all up - Mario Party - Mel Decision, darmock, DeLuxDolemite, Siolfor the Jackal - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04836
• Watermelon Flava - Breath of Fire III - Joshua Morse, posu yan - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01411

In this episode of R Weekly Highlights: We have a six-month follow-up perspective from an early Positron user, how the current landscape of AI tools perform when learning the ropes with the Tidyverse, and how you can create your first Observable plot while using R for data munging.

Episode Links

• This week's curator: Jon Carroll - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @jonocarroll.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy (Bluesky) & @carroll_jono (X/Twitter)
• Positron: current joys and pains
• Learning the tidyverse with the help of AI tools
• Observable for R users
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W15

Supplement Resources

• Positron +1e https://open-vsx.org/extension/grrrck/positron-plus-1-e
• Vanishing Gradients episode 47 (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch of Code Slop with Joe Reis) https://vanishinggradients.fireside.fm/47
• Observable color palette viewer https://observablehq.com/plot/features/scales#color-scales
• Observable Plots (R/Pharma 2024 Workshop Series) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6fP68XnacM

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Sunny Side Up - Yoshi's Island DS - ZackParrish - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04558
• Costa Del Sol DANCE - Final Fantasy VII - Posu Yan - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00095

By some minor miracle (even on April Fools) the R Weekly Highlights podcast has made it to episode 200! We go "virtual" shopping for LLM-powered text analysis and prediction using the mall package, and how recent advancements in the grid and ggplot2 packages empower you to make use of highly-customized gradients. Plus listener feedback!

Episode Links

• This week's curator: Jon Calder - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @jonmcalder (X/Twitter)
• Text Summarization, Translation, and Classification using LLMs: mall does it all
• The guide to gradients in R and ggplot2
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W14

Supplement Resources

• Mall: Run multiple LLM predictions against a data frame with R and Python https://mlverse.github.io/mall/
• Announcing rixpress https://brodrigues.co/posts/2025-03-20-announcing_rixpress.html
• Hack your way to scientific glory https://stats.andrewheiss.com/hack-your-way/538

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Dark World Jazz - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Gux - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00156

Thriving in a multi-lingual data science lifestyle while authoring your next Quarto project, putting LLMs to the scientific test with parsing manuscripts, and replicating a life-saving spatial visualization originally created over 170 years ago!
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Ryo Nakagawara - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @rbyryo.bsky.social (Bluesky) & @R_by_Ryo) (X/Twitter)
• Creating multilingual documentation with Quarto
• The ellmer package for using LLMs with R is a game changer for scientists
• {SnowData} 1.0.0: Historical Data from John Snow's 1854 Cholera Outbreak Map
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W12

Supplement Resources

• Wes McKinney & Hadley Wickham (on cross-language collaboration, Positron, career beginnings, & more) https://youtu.be/D-xmvFY_i7U
• Tabby Quarto extension https://quarto.thecoatlessprofessor.com/tabby/
• Plotting the Past: The 1854 Cholera Outbreak Visualized in R https://simplifyingstats.wordpress.com/2025/01/18/plotting-the-past-the-1854-cholera-outbreak-visualised-in-r/

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Lost in a Nightmare - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Palpable - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03001
• Cammy's London Drizzle - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers - MkVaff - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00453

Giving your package documentation site a little personality and much more with {pkgdown} customization, plus a novel new package to bring the power of LaTeX to all of your plots!

Episode Links

• This week's curator: Batool Almarzouq - @batoolmm.bsky.social (Bluesky) & @batool664 (X/Twitter)
• Customize your expedition: Create a unique documentation for your R Package
• LaTeX Typesetting in R: The 'xdvir' Package
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W11

Supplement Resources

• {xdvir} package vignette https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/xdvir/vignettes/xdvir-intro.html
• tinytex- A lightweight, cross-platform, portable, and easy-to-maintain LaTeX distribution based on TeX Live https://yihui.org/tinytex/
• Adding arm64 to r2u https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/blog/2025/03/04#046_arm64_comes_to_r2u
• Website for tidyplots use cases https://tidyplots.org/use-cases/

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• A View from the Top (of Shinra HQ) - Final Fantasy VII Remake - TheManPF, Andre Beller, jnWake, Kev Ragone, Michelle Dreyband, newmajoe, Ronin Op F - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04777

A major milestone for leveraging LLMs in R just landed with the new ellmer package, along with a terrific showcase of retrieval-augmented generation combining ellmer and DuckDB. Plus an inspiring roundup of the recent Closeread contest winners.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Sam Parmar - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @parmsam_ (X/Twitter)
• Announcing ellmer: A package for interacting with Large Language Models in R
• Rapid RAG Prototyping: Building a Retrieval Augmented Generation Prototype with ellmer and DuckDB
• Winners of the Closeread Prize – Data-Driven Scrollytelling with Quarto
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W10

Supplement Resources

• Coder Radio episode 608 - R with Eric Nantz https://coder.show/608
• nhyris - The minimal framework for transform R shiny application into standalone

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Watermelon Flava - Breath of Fire III - Joshua Morse, posu yan - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01411
• Stomp the Summer Sky - Secret of Mana - Ziwtra - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00859

Our candid takes on the state of CRAN's role in light of recent package archival events, how creative use of LLMs could greatly streamline your next literature review, and a few great illustrations of lazy being a good thing in your R session.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Eric Nantz - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) & @theRcast (X/Twitter)
• Is CRAN Holding R Back?
• How to use large language models to assist in systematic literature reviews
• Lazy introduction to laziness in R
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W08

Supplement Resources

• A guide to contributing to open-source Python packages https://arilamstein.com/blog/2025/01/02/a-guide-to-contributing-to-open-source-python-packages/
• Continue https://www.continue.dev/

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Gurgling Desert Pond - Final Fantasy Random Encounter - blackguitar - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02555
• Hotel Rhumba - Earthbound - The Pancake Chef - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00526

An illuminating set of tips for making the best out of the phrase "fifty shades of grey" in your next monochrome visualisation, how the unique formatting features of the Scotland census data were tamed with the power of R, and how the first-ever native mobile application powered by R has opened the doors wide open for innovation across many parts of data science.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Jon Carroll - @[email protected] (Mastodon) & @jonocarroll.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy (Bluesky) & @carroll_jono (X/Twitter)
• Designing monochrome data visualisations
• The life changing magic of tidying text files
• Rlinguo — Why Did We Build It?
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W07

Supplement Resources

• ColorBrewer palettes https://colorbrewer2.org
• John's GitHub repository for tidying census files https://github.com/johnmackintosh/tidy-scotland-census
• Introducing Rlinguo, a native mobile app that runs R https://rtask.thinkr.fr/introducing-rlinguo-a-native-mobile-app-that-runs-r/
• mirai v2.0 - Continuous Innovation https://shikokuchuo.net/posts/25-mirai-v2/
• Key considerations for retiring/superseding an R package https://epiverse-trace.github.io/posts/superseding-bpmodels/

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music powered by OCRemix

• Chillout - Mega Man 2 - sedure - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01175
• Black Genesis - Final Fantasy VI Balance & Ruin - Brandon Strader, Rexy - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02796

Context is king in a trifecta of R packages harnessing LLMs to be your virtual assistant in package development and data science, plus the world (of data) is at your fingertips for data exploration and sharing your insights using the innovative closeread Quarto extension.


Episode Links

• This week's curator: Jonathan Kitt - @jonathankitt.bsky.social (Bluesky)
• Three experiments in LLM code assist with RStudio and Positron
• Gapminder: how has the world changed?
• Downloading datasets from Our World in Data in R
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W06

Supplement Resources

• From hours to minutes: accelerating your tidymodels code https://youtu.be/pTMiDHFIiPQ?si=4qZC3_NLUVhD5hAa
• Effecient Machine Learning with R https://emlwr.org/
• Closeread: Bringing scrollytelling to Quarto https://youtu.be/KqLxy66B3lQ?si=w7DIB4QhYk2u6cLG
• Closeread Posit contest submissions https://forum.posit.co/tag/closeread-prize-2024
• Extract Information From Images and PDFs With R & LLMs  https://3mw.albert-rapp.de/p/extract-information-from-images-and-pdfs-with-r-llms
• usgs geological survey mapping water https://waterdata.usgs.gov/blog/acs-maps/

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @[email protected] (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Costa del Sol DANCE - Final Fantasy VII - posu yan - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00095
• Aerobotics - Mega Man 8 - Just Coffee - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03323