RMarkdown enables analysts to engage with code interactively, embrace literate programming, and rapidly produce a wide variety of high-quality data products such as documents, emails, dashboards, and websites. However, RMarkdown is less commonly explored and celebrated for the important role it can play in helping R users grow into developers. In this talk, I will provide an overview of RMarkdown Driven Development: a workflow for converting one-off analysis into a well-engineered and well-designed R package with deep empathy for user needs. We will explore how the methodical incorporation of good coding practices such as modularization and testing naturally evolves a single-file RMarkdown into an R project or package. Along the way, we will discuss big-picture questions like “optimal stopping” (why some data products are better left as single files or projects) and concrete details such as the {here} and {testthat} packages which can provide step-change improvements to project sustainability.
Emily Riederer is an Analytics Manager at Capital One. Emily leads a team that is focused on building internal analytical tools and data products, including a suite of R packages and Shiny apps, and cultivating an innersource community of practice for analysts. Emily is an active member of the R community. In 2019, she co-organized satRday Chicago and the Chicago R unconference. You can find her {projmgr} R package on CRAN and her blog at emilyriederer.netlify.com. Previously, Emily earned degrees in Mathematics and Statistics at UNC Chapel Hill and worked as a research assistant in emergency department simulation and optimization.
