Overview
Much of base R is written in C. As R users, we may encounter this code when debugging our own code. As R contributors, an understanding of C can enable us to find the root cause of a bug and/or propose a patch to the C code to fix a bug. In any case, learning a new programming language can be fun and rewarding! In this talk, I’ll discuss why, as R users/programmers, we may want to learn C, and resources for doing so. I’ll show examples of how C is used in the codebase of base R. I’ll give an example of how, with only a little C knowledge, it was possible to add a new feature into the R language (specifying colours with three-digit hex codes). Finally, I’ll promote the C Study Group for R contributors as a friendly community learning C together.
Event details
Event: useR! 2024
Talk listing: sched
Date: July 10th, 2024
Time: 14:15
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Key points
Much of base R is written in C
Knowing some C enables contributions to R by finding the root cause of a bug, which can then be reported and a patch proposed
A little knowledge of C, and R’s C API, can go a long way
Slides
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Citation
@online{kaye2024,
author = {Kaye, Ella},
title = {C for {R} Users},
date = {2024-07-10},
url = {https://ellakaye.co.uk/talks/2024-07-10_c-for-r-users/},
langid = {en}
}