Anyone Can Play Git/R: Tips for First-Time Contributions to R Packages

Contributing to R packages and projects can be a rewarding way to give back to the tools you use and to improve your own programming skills in the process. In this talk, Kara will discuss some of the varied ways to contribute to existing projects. Anyone, whether a seasoned programmer or someone brand new to R, can make useful contributions to R packages. Kara will draw on her experience working on ggplot2 to offer strategies for finding your way in an unfamiliar codebase, and to give insights into the relationship between maintainers and contributors.

Transcript

1. ANYONE CAN PLAY GIT/R KARA WOO | @KARA_WOO RESEARCH SCIENTIST, SAGE BIONETWORKS CASCADIA R CONFERENCE Tips for First-Time Contributions to R Packages
2. Photo: Asa Rodger THE STRUGGLE IS REAL
3. Photo: Elaine Casap
4. Photo: Asa Rodger
5. Photo: Andrew Seaman
6. diverse fields
7. DAY 1
8. TODAY Memeification: David Ho
9. R package landscape • Over 12,000 packages on CRAN • Plus Bioconductor, GitHub, etc.
11. Photo: Sebastian Lengauer
12. ggplot2
14. WHY SHOULD I CONTRIBUTE TO R PACKAGES?

15. Why contribute? • Make things work the way you want
16. Why contribute? • Make things work the way you want • Opportunities, jobs, collaborations
17. Why contribute? • Make things work the way you want • Opportunities, jobs, collaborations • Teach
18. Why contribute? • Make things work the way you want • Opportunities, jobs, collaborations • Teach • Learn
19. Photo: Ciprian Lipenschi
20. Photo: Paul Frenzel
21. Photo: Delaney Dawson
22. Open issues 
 on GitHub
25. REPREX minimal reproducible example
26. library("ggplot2") ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) + geom_point()
27. reprex()
28. ``` r library("ggplot2") ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) + geom_point() ```  Created on 2018-05-18 by the [reprex package](http://reprex.tidyverse.org) (v0.2.0).
31. Photo: Sarah Dorweiler
32. GITHUB ISSUES provide a reproducible, clean, parsimonious argument that this is a real problem worth fixing
33. Survey existing issues on GitHub
34. Survey existing issues • Answer questions • (Re)produce reprexes • Add information
37. Improve documentation
38. #' Add two numbers #' #' @param x The first nubmer #' @param y The second number #' @return The sum of the first #' and second number #' #' @examples #' add(2, 2) add <- function(x, y) { x + y }
39. Documentation fixes • Typos • Confusing stuff • Out of date or inaccurate information • Examples
41. Photo: Kawtar Cherkaoui
42. Fix a bug!
43. Contributing code • Start with an issue
44. good first issue help wanted
45. Photo: Olloweb Solutions BECOMING A BUG DETECTIVE
46. Photo: Annie Spratt
47. Photo: Jack Hunter
48. traceback() Photo: Ryan Fields
49. Photo: Bernard Hermant debug()
50. Photo: Filip Mroz
51. Bug hunting tips • Read the function(s) • Find the surrounding functions • traceback() and debug() are your friends
52. Contributing code • Start with an issue
53. Contributing code • Start with an issue • Submit a pull request containing your change
55. Contributing code • Start with an issue • Submit a pull request containing your change • Update documentation • Tests prevent your fix from getting un-fixed • Follow code style
56. Contributing code • Start with an issue • Submit a pull request containing your change • Update documentation • Tests prevent your fix from getting un-fixed • Follow code style • CONTRIBUTING.md
57. Photo: Antony Xia
58. START SMALL AND LEARN AS YOU GO You don’t need to be an expert to contribute through issues, comments, reprexes, documentation, or code
60. More resources • “Contributing Code to the Tidyverse” by Jim Hester 
 http:/ /www.jimhester.com/2017/08/08/contributing/ • “Contributing to Tidyverse Packages” by Mara Averick
 https:/ /www.rstudio.com/resources/videos/contributing-to- tidyverse-packages/ • “Happy Git and GitHub for the useR” by Jenny Bryan
 http:/ /happygitwithr.com/
61. Photo: Agathe Marty
62. Photo: Tom Johnson thanks! Acknowledgements: Thanks to Mara Averick, Tom Johnson, Sean Kross, Ross Donaldson, Hadley Wickham, 
 R-Ladies Seattle, and #rcatladies