[Rd] 'CanMakeUseOf' field [was ".. Add 'fields' argument ..]

[Pfaff, Bernhard Dr.]

>>>>>> "PaulG" == Paul Gilbert <pgilbert at bank-banque-canada.ca>
>>>>>>     on Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:55:09 -0400 writes:
>
>    PaulG> Martin Maechler wrote:
>    >> ...
>    >> 
>    >> The idea was a field related to but weaker than 'Suggests' :
>    >> Something like
>    >> 'canMakeUseOf: <pkg1> [, <pkg2>, ... ]
>    >> which is *not* used in any QA/QC checking, but is purely
>    >> informative: If <pkg1> is require()able, then some examples may
>    >> look nicer, a function may provide another feature, etc, etc.
>    >> Alternatives to 'canMakeUseOf' would have been
>    >> 'isHappilyCoworkingWith' ....
>    >> 
>    >> What do you (R-devel listeners) think about the idea?
>
>    PaulG> I still like this idea.  I prefer 'canMakeUseOf' to 
>    PaulG> 'isHappilyCoworkingWith'  mainly because it seems 
>less ambiguous.
>
>Thanks, Paul.
>As you may have guessed I should have put a  " :-) "  beside the
>'isHappily...' .
>
>Of course, even 'CanMakeUseOf' {we should capitalize the first letter}
>is rather too long, but before finding the proper term, we should
>agree on usefulness of such a new field.
>Apart from the use of package authors {some could note that
>other packages make use of theirs, without already depending on
>or suggesting them}, it's one of those fields that should help
>in the future to explore (e.g. cluster or neighborhood-graph)
>the growing high-dimensional space of R packages.
>

Hello Martin, hello Paul,

this is an interesting iniative! There are already 'task views' (I do
not have to tell you :-); with a growing number of packages contained in
each) and hence, the 'value added', IMHO, of such a field in the
DESCRIPTION file would be to narrow down the search to affiliated
packages. Incidentally, these packages might not be contained in a
certain task view and the advantage is threefold: first this give
package authors the leeway to decide which packages should go 'hand in
hand' with their one(s); secondly, users might be pointed to packages,
that would have slipped their attention by only spotting at a certain
task view and last but not least, not all packages do appear in a task
view. 

Just my 2c.

Best,
Bernhard


>Martin
>
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