Just sent this to my oldest, who's in 4th year of a software engineering degree. It's going to be an "interesting" ride for this cohort 😅

this honestly increases my interest in making slides with quarto (I'm a known Keynote neanderthal 😅, but am trying to psych myself up for a change)

Weird thing I'm enjoying about the Orion launch: I love hearing people speak with this level of precision 🤓

this was my exact thought!

during COVID, you could rent the local theatre for your family/quarantine unit so we booked it to (rere)watch The Martian 🤓

2026 Posit Internships Posit is sponsoring four summer internship positions in 2026.

Our list of 2026 #rstats and #python summer internships has been posted.

We can't wait to work with you and make great things!

tidyverse.org/blog/2026/03...

this is covered in github.com/tidyverse/re...

it's not always a welcome or popular response, but this is the downside of type guessing -- super convenient yes, but in the end it's always better (safer) to specify types as an analysis gets more serious

This is fantastic news! Heather is such a positive force in the #rstats community and is doing vital work for the long-term sustainability of R and its community.

in a similar vein, I'm not fond of the "chore" label in issue tagging systems

The future of #DataScience is at #positconf 2026. Check out our keynote lineup:
Wes McKinney: Future of high-performance computing
Christine Zhang: Data storytelling at NY Times
Emily Riederer: Scaling open-source at Capital One
Sara Altman & Simon Couch: AI-driven workflows
Register: pos.it/conf

Self-cleaning test fixtures A wild romp through environments -- namely, the environments associated with functions and tests. How to adopt a low-impact lifestyle.

this is one of my very favorite things about withr's take on this

withr::defer() -> withr::deferred_run()

tidyverse.org/blog/2020/04...

Apply to be an Opportunity Scholar at posit::conf(2026) in Houston!
We’re offering 40 full-support scholarships for underrepresented groups in data science. Includes: 🎟️ Conference+Workshop pass 🏨 Hotel stay ✈️ Travel reimbursement
Apply by March 13: posit.co/blog/apply-t...
#positconf2026 #rstats

A close-up view of a computer monitor in a dimly lit room, showing a terminal console. The terminal displays the output of an R function called meetupr_sitrep(). The report shows green checkmarks for "Active Authentication" and "Cached Token," and a blue information icon for package settings. At the bottom, a red "X" marks a failed "API Connectivity Test," illustrating a diagnostic situation report in action. In the foreground, a coffee mug and a person’s hand on a keyboard are visible but slightly out of focus.

Stop playing "diagnostics ping-pong" with your users 🏓

Wrote about why every R package wrapping external tools needs a sitrep() function — with real examples from meetupr and freesurfer.

#RStats

https://drmo.site/F5gVjR

Good news: The posit::conf(2026) Call for Talks has been extended to Friday, February 20!
Join us in Houston to share your work with the R & Python community.
🎤 Speakers receive: Professional coaching, free conference pass, travel assistance
Submit your 20-min talk proposal: pos.it/conf-talk-2026

you don't need to copy/paste from that preview! the rendered reprex, in a friendly md form, is already on your clipboard 😆

the htmlpreview is for your 👀, but the good stuff is on the clipboard waiting to be pasted in the relevant venue (default is github, but slack can also be requested)

Speak at posit::conf(2026) and share your R & Python stories!

Accepted speakers get:
✨ Travel & lodging help
✨ Free conference pass
✨ Professional coaching

Apply by Feb 6 to join us Sept 14-16 in Houston, TX!

Submit here: pos.it/conf-talk-2026

#positconf2026 #rstats #pydata

the tidyr::separate_wider_*() functions might offer a nice little improvement to your existing approach

this idea has been kicking around for years and @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social catalyzed something at an rOpenSci unconf once: github.com/HenrikBengts...

Join us this summer in Visby, Sweden 🇸🇪 for RaukR 2026, a 2-week intensive R summer school 👨‍💻👩‍💻 to take your R skills 📊 beyond the basics. Sign up now for early bird offer! @nbis.se @scilifelab

#rstats #r #datascience #code #bioinformatics #nbisweden #raukr

go.nbis.se/raukr-2026/

Vignette workflows are just inherently awkward since, unlike help topics and `man/*.Rd` files, the rendered form of vignettes has no legit business or home inside an R package in source form. This chapter outlines some of the least bad workflows:

r-pkgs.org/vignettes.html

I define short aliases `bp()` and `bg()` for `usethis::browse_package()` and `usethis::browse_github()` in `.Rprofile` because I use them so much.

Screenshot showing usage of usethis::browse_package(), usethis::browse_cran(), and usethis::browse_github().

I'm reminded of how handy the usethis::browse_*() functions are and thought I'd remind people they exist. Choose from a menu of links or go straight to CRAN or GitHub. #rstats

This gives a fantastic framing of how to think about reproducibility (it's a spectrum) and how to use renv with intention. Highly recommend, even if you're not using renv, to get a better understanding of how to live in peace as R and package versions advance 🕊️ #rstats

10 Years of Data Science Tools...and What Happens Next (Jonathan McPherson) | posit::conf(2025) YouTube video by Posit PBC

My keynote about data science tools at posit::conf is now online! I originally meant it to be a talk about Positron, but as I was writing it, it took a left turn through the history of RStudio and into the philosophy of tool design & how to build stuff for people.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGre...

Example of using `filter_out()` on the `penguins` dataset, showing how it is much easier than `filter()`, especially with `NA`s

We are looking for #rstats community feedback on 3 new dplyr functions!

We're aiming to expand the `filter()` family:

- `filter()` to keep rows
- `filter_out()` to drop rows
- `when_any()` and `when_all()` as modifiers

Read more and leave feedback here:
github.com/tidyverse/ti...

maybe it should be your first Pythong package 🩴

Will definitely include this example in my next talk on how to name files!

✅ Full marks for "make it easy to guess what the heck something is, based on it name".

Positron for RStudio Users: A Gentle Introduction with an image of a cute orange kitten sniffing a hand

I loved discussing "Positron for RStudio Users: A Gentle Introduction" with @simisani.bsky.social & R-Ladies Gaborone!

Check out the recording and materials:

📹 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fOQ...
📝 ivelasq.rbind.io/talk/positro...

I hope this intro is better than the one between my three cats 😹

I'm excited to share a new version of the Air formatter for #rstats, with support for tabular formatting! Super useful with `tibble::tribble()` calls or `data.table::fcase()`.

It's currently experimental as we're looking to get feedback on the feature, so please let us know what you think.

I still marvel at the choice to do "C:\Program Files"

bliki: Frequency Reduces Difficulty "If it hurts - do it more often". Good advice if the amount of pain raises exponentially with the time between actions, such as for integrating software.

BTW this "Frequency Reduces Difficulty" post from @martinfowler.com is the origin of the mantra "if it hurts, do it more often" (at least, it's where I learned it). It's amazing how broadly this applies.

martinfowler.com/bliki/Freque...

I bet the whole reason he's thinking about this is that I was complaining to him (to everyone, really) about the pain of using Windows full-time while my macbook's logic board gets replaced. And he brought out the house words "if it hurts, do it more often!"