On Reproducible Code
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On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 10:47 AM, Hadley Wickham <hadley at rice.edu> wrote:
That assumes: * Everyone reads the mailing list before making the first posting * Everyone reads every part of every email. I'd argue that both assumptions are false. People are particular well trained to skip over boilerplate text at the bottom of emails.
-- which is why I suggested that Jim Lemon's brief version go at the top. There's obviously no magic bullet. We're in the realm of social psychology, I guess, here, so I certainly don't have much insight. But I think the experiment is easy and worth trying. -- Bert
I'd suggest an alternative approach is for experts to remember what it's like to be a novice, and cultivate an attitude of patience and tolerance. That's about as likely to happen as a mass change in behaviour in new users. Hadley On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 9:48 AM, John Kane <jrkrideau at inbox.com> wrote:
I'd vote for that! It would probably bug the blazes out of experienced users but the time savings in getting a newbie to actually supply enough information so that someone can, at least, try to answer the question would be well worth it. John Kane Kingston ON Canada
-----Original Message----- From: gunter.berton at gene.com Sent: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:49:28 -0700 To: jrkrideau at inbox.com Subject: Re: [R] On Reproducible Code I agree and would like to see it placed at the **TOP** of every post. -- Bert On Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 7:11 AM, John Kane <jrkrideau at inbox.com> wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: jim at bitwrit.com.au Sent: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 19:21:36 +1000 To: dcarlson at tamu.edu Subject: Re: [R] On Reproducible Code On 07/26/2012 01:50 AM, David L Carlson wrote:
We often refer requesters to the Posting Guide and chide them for not reading it. ... I hesitate to sound too optimistic, but there might be some advantage in making the statement more prominent and adding a reproducible example using dput().
The reponses to some requests for help do seem to get a volley of the "reproducible code" answers. Some, such as: I can't get the answer. PLEASE HELP!!! probably deserve it, but others appear to emerge from the overheated brain of the frustrated noob. With a wonderfully informative name like "dput", it is rather challenging to guess that this function is the way to calm the affronted guru with an example of your problem. I am particularly amused by the phrase "reproducible code", which sounds perilously close to the definition of a virus. Perhaps the neglected little message at the bottom of each email (which seems to reproduce itself) might be easier for the uninitiated to understand if it read: Please include the R code that is causing the problem _and_ enough data (see the "dput" function) for someone else to run the code and get the same problem. I can remember when I didn't know that there was a "dput" function. Jim
I can remember spending a lot of time constructing a data set to post before someone mentioned ?dput. Ah, yes, I still have a couple of generic ones archived. I think your wording above makes a lot of sense.
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-- Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics Internal Contact Info: Phone: 467-7374 Website: http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm
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Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics Internal Contact Info: Phone: 467-7374 Website: http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm