Selecting Packages

  • Duration: ~5 Minutes
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Learning Objectives

  • Good places to find packages.
  • Popular Packages!
  • How to choose?

Good Places To Find Packages

  • This is a little daunting.
  • There are over 10,000 packages available on CRAN
  • Searching here is often exhausting, but very thorough.
  • That doesn't include BioConductor or GitHub.

Popular Packages

  • Start with RStudio's collection.
  • For more specific packages, CRAN provides Task Views, collections of thematically related packages that are recommended by the community.

How To Choose

  • Caveat Emptor
  • Don't use a package from every bearded geek.
  • Make judicious decisions.
  • Let's talk about what to look for.
    • How new? How maintained?
    • How sophisticated? Can you judge the code yourself?
    • Has anyone ever heard of the author?
    • Any peer reviewed articles (not always appropriate)
      •
  • MatchIt (CRAN)
  • MatchIt Web

And Now You Know!

Photo of John Jacob Astor in 1919

John Jacob Astor in 1919