From 280e10bdf752b9d6cc124e9177f0ff1ed786030f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 11:44:19 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 1/6] Add suggestion to improve documentation --- 01-Introduction.Rmd | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/01-Introduction.Rmd b/01-Introduction.Rmd index 8925179..e5b4d87 100644 --- a/01-Introduction.Rmd +++ b/01-Introduction.Rmd @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ Contributions to base R are possible in a number of different ways. Some of them 1. Contributing to bug fixing: Refer [Bug Tracking](#BugTrack) and [Reviewing Bugs](#ReviewBugs). 2. Contributing to translations: Refer [Translations](#). 3. Testing R before release: Refer [Testing Pre-release R Versions](#TestRVer). +4. Contributing to documentation and tutorials: Refer [Documenting R](#Doc). - From 2526e4be9af342697486479e2990829cc942d958 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 11:54:51 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 2/6] Add link to contributing to this guide --- 01-Introduction.Rmd | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/01-Introduction.Rmd b/01-Introduction.Rmd index e5b4d87..02370ba 100644 --- a/01-Introduction.Rmd +++ b/01-Introduction.Rmd @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Contributions to base R are possible in a number of different ways. Some of them 1. Contributing to bug fixing: Refer [Bug Tracking](#BugTrack) and [Reviewing Bugs](#ReviewBugs). 2. Contributing to translations: Refer [Translations](#). 3. Testing R before release: Refer [Testing Pre-release R Versions](#TestRVer). -4. Contributing to documentation and tutorials: Refer [Documenting R](#Doc). +4. Contributing to documentation and tutorials, including this guide: Refer [Documenting R](#Doc) and [Contributing to this guide](#how-to-contribute-to-this-guide). From 4d97267fa1f6e9664db0b202b3873c6a8ae5c05b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 11:56:35 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 3/6] Make Code of Conduct note more prominent --- 01-Introduction.Rmd | 5 ++--- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/01-Introduction.Rmd b/01-Introduction.Rmd index 02370ba..718e60a 100644 --- a/01-Introduction.Rmd +++ b/01-Introduction.Rmd @@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ Contributions to base R are possible in a number of different ways. Some of them +Maintainers and contributors are requested to follow this project's [code of conduct](https://github.com/r-devel/rdevguide/blob/main/CONDUCT.md). + ## Quick start to the guide The guide is intended as a comprehensive resource for contributing to base R. The following chapter outline provides an overview with links to sections for getting started with contributing. @@ -47,6 +49,3 @@ This guide is built using bookdown which makes editing it easier, provided you h ![Screenshot of the toolbar in the HTML version of the guide, with the Edit button (pencil and paper icon) circled in red.](img/edit_icon.png) Use the [issue tracker](https://github.com/r-devel/rdevguide/issues) to raise an issue about the guide’s content or to make a feature request. - -Maintainers and contributors are requested to follow this project's [code of conduct](https://github.com/r-devel/rdevguide/blob/main/CONDUCT.md). - From f0c03ec5d45964f96f32cc8f3c96f02ff2de5a58 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 11:58:51 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 4/6] Explain what markup means --- 08-documenting.Rmd | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/08-documenting.Rmd b/08-documenting.Rmd index 1ac23d6..2868883 100644 --- a/08-documenting.Rmd +++ b/08-documenting.Rmd @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ R has a substantial body of documentation, comprising help files for the core pa The involvement of the community takes many forms, from contributing content, to making bug reports or raising an issue when the documentation could be more complete or made easier to follow. -This chapter is about the ways people can contribute to R's documentation, with guidance on how to do that. Any time you feel that you can clarify or fill gaps in existing documentation, your contribution is welcome and appreciated. If you find it difficult to deal with the markup used in the source files, you can ask for help with that part too. Please do not let the material in this chapter stand between the documentation and your desire to help out. However, not every good faith effort to change or extend the documentation will be accepted - sometimes the suggested changes may be incorrect; other times, while a change in wording may make some things clearer and easier to understand, the finer details of some corner case may become less clear, leading to the suggested changes being declined or modified by a member of R Core before applying them (if they agree the issue is important enough to fix). +This chapter is about the ways people can contribute to R's documentation, with guidance on how to do that. Any time you feel that you can clarify or fill gaps in existing documentation, your contribution is welcome and appreciated. If you find it difficult to deal with the markup formatting language used in the source files, you can ask for help with that part too. Please do not let the material in this chapter stand between the documentation and your desire to help out. However, not every good faith effort to change or extend the documentation will be accepted - sometimes the suggested changes may be incorrect; other times, while a change in wording may make some things clearer and easier to understand, the finer details of some corner case may become less clear, leading to the suggested changes being declined or modified by a member of R Core before applying them (if they agree the issue is important enough to fix). ## Introduction to `.Rd` files From 26a97870d78690197bf1df1bf0f87f0ce78b83eb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 12:13:02 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 5/6] Change order of sections to group different kinds of docs Trying to put the introductory sections higher up and splitting later material into: code docs, tutorials, this guide. --- 08-documenting.Rmd | 86 +++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+), 43 deletions(-) diff --git a/08-documenting.Rmd b/08-documenting.Rmd index 2868883..b7bec66 100644 --- a/08-documenting.Rmd +++ b/08-documenting.Rmd @@ -6,6 +6,49 @@ The involvement of the community takes many forms, from contributing content, to This chapter is about the ways people can contribute to R's documentation, with guidance on how to do that. Any time you feel that you can clarify or fill gaps in existing documentation, your contribution is welcome and appreciated. If you find it difficult to deal with the markup formatting language used in the source files, you can ask for help with that part too. Please do not let the material in this chapter stand between the documentation and your desire to help out. However, not every good faith effort to change or extend the documentation will be accepted - sometimes the suggested changes may be incorrect; other times, while a change in wording may make some things clearer and easier to understand, the finer details of some corner case may become less clear, leading to the suggested changes being declined or modified by a member of R Core before applying them (if they agree the issue is important enough to fix). +## Helping with documentation + +Maintaining the accuracy of R's documentations and keeping a high level of quality takes a lot of effort. Community members, like you, help with writing, editing, and updating content, and these contributions are appreciated and welcomed. + +Looking at pre-existing documentation source files can be very helpful when getting started. + +You can directly search for [documentation issues/bugs on Bugzilla](https://bugs.r-project.org/buglist.cgi?component=Documentation&list_id=22501&product=R&resolution=---). Issues vary from typos to unclear documentation and items lacking documentation. + +If you see a documentation issue that you would like to tackle, you can leave a comment on the issue saying you are going to try to solve the issue and mention roughly how long you think you will take to do so (this allows others to take on the issue if you happen to forget or lose interest). + +If you find some typo or problem on [CRAN](https://cran.r-project.org) after checking the problem or typo you can write a polite email to `cran-sysadmin@r-project.org` and one of the R-core members working with CRAN. You'll probably get a prompt reply about how the issue is going to be fixed. + +## Reporting documentation bugs + + +If you find some typo or problem on the [CRAN](https://cran.r-project.org) webpages you can write a polite email to `CRAN@r-project.org` to report it. As an alternative, one can also write to the R-devel mailing list or submit a bug report via R's Bugzilla. + +For improvements of the R-manuals or reporting typos or bugs in the R-manuals, submit a bug report to R's Bugzilla. + +For reporting bugs or typos on the webpages or documentation about a particular package, write to the corresponding package maintainer. To find the maintainer of a package, use the command `maintainer("package-name")`. + +**Note**: + +There is a `#core-documentation` channel on the [R Contributors slack](https://r-contributors.slack.com/) where you can discuss about the patches for improvements to R's documentation. + +## Guidelines for writing R help files + +This section is based on the [guidelines used by R Core developers for writing R help files](https://developer.r-project.org/Rds.html). Extensive details of writing R documentation files can be found in the [Writing R Extensions](https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Writing-R-documentation-files) manual. + +The language used in the documentations should follow these basic rules: + +1. Affirmative tone should be used to describe what the function does and how to use it effectively. Rather than creating worry in the mind of a reader, it should establish confident knowledge about the effective use of the particular function/feature. + +2. More documentation is not necessarily better documentation. Long descriptions full of corner cases and caveats can create the impression that a function is more complex or harder to use than it actually is. Be succinct but exhaustive. + +3. Short code examples can help in understanding better. Readers can often grasp a simple example more quickly than they can digest a formal description. Usually people learn faster with concrete, motivating examples that match the context of a typical use case. + +4. Giving a code equivalent (or approximate equivalent) can be a useful addition to the description provided. You should carefully weigh whether the code equivalent adds value to the document. + +5. The tone of the documentation needs to be respectful of the reader’s background. Lay out the relevant information, show motivating use cases, provide glossary links, and do your best to connect-the-dots. The documentation is meant for newcomers, many of whom will be using it to evaluate the R language as a whole. The experience needs to be positive and not leave the reader with worries that something bad will happen if they make a mistake. + ## Introduction to `.Rd` files The R help files are written in “R documentation” (Rd) format, a markup language which resembles LaTeX. The `.Rd` file format can be further processed into a variety of formats, including LaTeX, HTML, and plain text. The `.Rd` files can be found in the `man` directory of the source code for the corresponding package. @@ -113,22 +156,6 @@ c(xm, mean(x, trim = 0.10)) Many R package developers write help files using the R package [roxygen2](https://cran.r-project.org/package=roxygen2), which generates `.Rd` files from comments in the corresponding `.R` files. However, in this guide we only consider `.Rd` files, because the help files for the base distribution are written and edited directly in `.Rd` format. -## Guidelines for writing R help files - -This section is based on the [guidelines used by R Core developers for writing R help files](https://developer.r-project.org/Rds.html). Extensive details of writing R documentation files can be found in the [Writing R Extensions](https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Writing-R-documentation-files) manual. - -The language used in the documentations should follow these basic rules: - -1. Affirmative tone should be used to describe what the function does and how to use it effectively. Rather than creating worry in the mind of a reader, it should establish confident knowledge about the effective use of the particular function/feature. - -2. More documentation is not necessarily better documentation. Long descriptions full of corner cases and caveats can create the impression that a function is more complex or harder to use than it actually is. Be succinct but exhaustive. - -3. Short code examples can help in understanding better. Readers can often grasp a simple example more quickly than they can digest a formal description. Usually people learn faster with concrete, motivating examples that match the context of a typical use case. - -4. Giving a code equivalent (or approximate equivalent) can be a useful addition to the description provided. You should carefully weigh whether the code equivalent adds value to the document. - -5. The tone of the documentation needs to be respectful of the reader’s background. Lay out the relevant information, show motivating use cases, provide glossary links, and do your best to connect-the-dots. The documentation is meant for newcomers, many of whom will be using it to evaluate the R language as a whole. The experience needs to be positive and not leave the reader with worries that something bad will happen if they make a mistake. - ## R manuals The [R manuals](https://cran.r-project.org/manuals.html) are a part of the [R sources](https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/doc/manual/). Hence, bug reports/patches can also be submitted via Bugzilla, e.g. [Bug 15221 - R-admin/'Installing R under Windows': Missing argument name](https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=15221). Note that they are typically referred to by their file names as listed below: @@ -148,18 +175,6 @@ Note: - The [R manuals](https://cran.r-project.org/manuals.html) page has links for the [three types of release](https://contributor.r-project.org/rdevguide/GetStart.html#the-r-source-code): `r-release`, `r-patched` and `r-devel`. These nicknames appear in the URLs, e.g. https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-intro.html. - The [Texinfo manual](https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/) should be referred to for [how to mark up text](https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/texinfo.html). -## Helping with documentation - -Maintaining the accuracy of R's documentations and keeping a high level of quality takes a lot of effort. Community members, like you, help with writing, editing, and updating content, and these contributions are appreciated and welcomed. - -Looking at pre-existing documentation source files can be very helpful when getting started. - -You can directly search for [documentation issues/bugs on Bugzilla](https://bugs.r-project.org/buglist.cgi?component=Documentation&list_id=22501&product=R&resolution=---). Issues vary from typos to unclear documentation and items lacking documentation. - -If you see a documentation issue that you would like to tackle, you can leave a comment on the issue saying you are going to try to solve the issue and mention roughly how long you think you will take to do so (this allows others to take on the issue if you happen to forget or lose interest). - -If you find some typo or problem on [CRAN](https://cran.r-project.org) after checking the problem or typo you can write a polite email to `cran-sysadmin@r-project.org` and one of the R-core members working with CRAN. You'll probably get a prompt reply about how the issue is going to be fixed. - ## Proofreading While an issue filed on Bugzilla means there is a known issue somewhere, that does not mean there are not other issues lurking about in the documentation. Proofreading a part of the documentation can often uncover problems. @@ -172,21 +187,6 @@ The Developer’s Guide (what you are reading now) uses the same process as the Our dev guide workflow uses continuous integration and deployment so changes to the dev guide are normally published when the pull request is merged. [How to contribute to this guide from the introduction.](#how-to-contribute-to-this-guide) -## Reporting documentation bugs - - -If you find some typo or problem on the [CRAN](https://cran.r-project.org) webpages you can write a polite email to `CRAN@r-project.org` to report it. As an alternative, one can also write to the R-devel mailing list or submit a bug report via R's Bugzilla. - -For improvements of the R-manuals or reporting typos or bugs in the R-manuals, submit a bug report to R's Bugzilla. - -For reporting bugs or typos on the webpages or documentation about a particular package, write to the corresponding package maintainer. To find the maintainer of a package, use the command `maintainer("package-name")`. - -**Note**: - -There is a `#core-documentation` channel on the [R Contributors slack](https://r-contributors.slack.com/) where you can discuss about the patches for improvements to R's documentation. - ## See also 1. [Writing R documentation files](https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Writing-R-documentation-files) From 5c1e644bd1c1afbaa842d443f0223cc48d0e02bf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: S Jaffa Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 12:16:08 +0100 Subject: [PATCH 6/6] Remove extra space and avoid jargon --- 08-documenting.Rmd | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/08-documenting.Rmd b/08-documenting.Rmd index b7bec66..73daac3 100644 --- a/08-documenting.Rmd +++ b/08-documenting.Rmd @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ This chapter is about the ways people can contribute to R's documentation, with ## Helping with documentation -Maintaining the accuracy of R's documentations and keeping a high level of quality takes a lot of effort. Community members, like you, help with writing, editing, and updating content, and these contributions are appreciated and welcomed. +Maintaining the accuracy of R's documentations and keeping a high level of quality takes a lot of effort. Community members, like you, help with writing, editing, and updating content, and these contributions are appreciated and welcomed. Looking at pre-existing documentation source files can be very helpful when getting started. @@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ If you decide to proofread, read a section of the documentation from start to fi The Developer’s Guide (what you are reading now) uses the same process as the main R documentation, except for some small differences. The source lives in a [GitHub repository](https://github.com/r-devel/rdevguide/) and bug reports should be submitted to the [devguide GitHub tracker](https://github.com/r-devel/rdevguide/issues). -Our dev guide workflow uses continuous integration and deployment so changes to the dev guide are normally published when the pull request is merged. [How to contribute to this guide from the introduction.](#how-to-contribute-to-this-guide) +Our Developer’s Guide workflow uses continuous integration and deployment so changes to the Developer’s Guide are normally published when the pull request is merged. [How to contribute to this guide from the introduction.](#how-to-contribute-to-this-guide) ## See also