dsftools

The goal of dsftools is to provide a library of common functions for fisheries analyses within the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Division of Sport Fish.

The (multivariate) hope is that R-users within the Division can:

• More easily share code we're written, and make use of each other's code
• Standardize our methods for common analyses
• Collaborate and improve each other's code
• Get some Git(hub) & package development learning for free!

Installation

If you just want to use the functions in dsftools, you can install the development version from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("ADFG-DSF/dsftools")

A brief overview of commonly-used functions

For ASL (age, sex, and length) summaries:

• ASL_table() generates a summary table of ASL from vectors of data, and is robust to multiple sampling scenarios (stratified vs. pooled, total abundance known vs. estimated vs. unknown).
• verify_ASL_table() provides a graphical check of the methods used in ASL_table() via simulation.
• rp_ASL_table() graphically describes the relative precision of the estimates returned by ASL_table() via simulation.
• simulate_ASL_table() is the simulation function that may be called by verify_ and rp_, but may be called by itself.
• ASL_boilerplate() automagically creates text to accompany an ASL summary analysis or Operational Plan, to be written to Rmarkdown. This function may be used with inputs to ASL_table(), or directly from inputs describing the sampling scenario.

Miscellaneous functions

• logit() and expit(): functions for logit and inverse-logit
• se(): standard error, defined as sd/sqrt(n)
• rp(): a more generalized function for calculating confidence or (relative) accuracy from a vector of simulated values and a true value
• plotcor(): a method for plotting a correlation matrix (mostly stolen from jagshelper::plotcor_jags())
• %inside%, %inside()%, %inside[)%, and %inside(]%: shorthand for checking if elements of a numeric vector are within a specified interval
• %s_l%, %s_leq%, %s_g%, %s_geq%, %s_inside%, %s_inside()%, %s_inside[)%, and %s_inside[)%: shortcuts for vector subsetting

What is an R package, and why is dsftools structured like one?

An R package is a standardized bundle of R functions, function documentation, example data, and most importantly, metadata. It can be loaded into your R package library, and you will be able to use the functions, access the function documentation (i.e. help()), and run example scripts within R/Rstudio.

You may notice the files DESCRIPTION and NAMESPACE at the root directory; these are important files that tell R how to interpret the package and its dependencies. The /man folder contains all function documentation.

I've written some cool R functions. Can I contribute them?

Yes please!!! That's the whole point of this package.

If you're new to the R package development workflow or just want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out https://r-pkgs.org/ because Hadley and Jennifer explain it all much better than I can.

Definitely check out Adam's excellent writeup on the use of Git & Github: https://adfg-dsf.github.io/Git_book/ as well as https://happygitwithr.com/

A few ground rules so we're all on the same page:

• Use devtools: The devtools package automates a lot of the package development tasks, and integrates well with RStudio. Make sure you have the latest version.

• Use roxygen2: The roxygen2 package automates building package documentation and metadata. Notice how the lines preceding each function within this package have tags that look like #' @description, etc. These "roxygen tags" create documentation and/or metadata in the appropriate places.

  • A couple of important ones: @export is necessary to export your function to the final package at the user level (an unexported function will be accessible to other dsftools functions, but not the user), and @importFrom will import functions from external packages.
  • An annoying step to enable Roxygen: In RStudio, navigate to Tools > Project Options > Build Tools, then check "Generate R Documentation with Roxygen", then "Configure..." and check all the boxes in the next popup.

• Add documentation: Add a help file with Roxygen for each function you contribute, and (for now) add a blurb in the README file.

• Add some automated tests: In tests/testthat/test_dsftools.R there are series of automated tests. These will run silently if dsftools's functions produce the desired output, and will complain otherwise. This is not required, but if you added a function, please add whatever tests you can think of! This provides a safeguard in case errors are inadvertently introduced, or (more likely) some update to R or a package dependency causes something to break. Tests aren't for now, tests are for the future.

• Version up: If you add or change stuff, bump up the Version in the DESCRIPTION file to let R know that this is a new version. I'm not sure if this is absolutely necessary, but it's a good practice.

• I don't know yet if the Fork/Pull Request or Collaborate model makes more sense. For now, let's try Fork/Pull Request for practice.

A few RStudio buttons you'll use

In the Build pane of RStudio:

• Install rebuilds the package and re-generates all Roxygen.
• Test runs all automated tests in the /tests folder.
• Check runs all tests, plus many additional checks to make sure that the package is functioning correctly and is complete in every conceivable way. It's totally possible to have a working package that does not completely pass Check, but since this package is collaborative, do your best to address any problems that Check identifies.