vignettes/contributing-an-optimizer.Rmd
contributing-an-optimizer.Rmdrco is an open source package, and the contributions to the development of the library are more than welcome. In this guide is detailed what is the procedure commonly followed to develop a new optimizer.
Developing a new optimizer will require four steps that are explained below: writing the code, the test cases, the vignette, and some additional files.
All the code developed for the new optimizer will go in a file named R/opt-**optimizer-name**.R.
An optimizer will be a single function (one exported), which should be called opt_**optimizer_name**. This function will take as input a texts parameter that contains a string list (character vector) with the code to optimize. An example of this, with just one code to optimize, would be:
All other parameters that the function opt_**optimizer_name** takes as input must have an associated default parameter, for example, opt_**optimizer_name** <- function(texts, param1 = FALSE) { ... }.
As output, the developed function must return a list with a field codes that must have the same format as the texts input but with the code optimized.
To document code we use the roxygen2 package. You should give a brief description of the new optimizer, of the input parameters, and an example of use.
As skeleton to use to develop the new optimizer we propose to follow:
#' Optimizer: **New Optimizer Name**
#'
#' **New optimizer description**
#' Carefully examine the results after running this function!
#'
#' @param texts A list of character vectors with the code to optimize.
#' **Other parameters description**
#'
#' @examples
#' **New optimizer example of use**
#'
#' @export
#'
opt_**optimizer_name** <- function(texts) {
# todo: **list of possible improvements for the optimizer**
res <- list()
**new optimizer code**
res$codes <- **...**
return(res)
}For the parsing and tokenization of the code we suggest to use the functions developed in R/parse.R.
For testing, we use the testthat package. All the code for testing the new optimizer will go in a file named tests/testthat/test-opt_**optimizer_name**.R.
Please create a test suite that covers a large percentage of possible use and border cases.
As skeleton to use to develop the new optimizer’s test suite we propose to follow:
context("opt_**optimizer_name**")
test_that("**test name**", {
**...**
})
**more test cases**When developing a new optimizer, we create a vignette to explain it. This documentation will not only be a vignette of the package but will also be part of the rco website.
For writing vignettes, we use the knitr and rmarkdown packages. The new vignette will go in a file named vignettes/opt-**optimizer-name**.Rmd, and must follow the skeleton:
---
output: rmarkdown::html_vignette
title: **New Optimizer Name**
vignette: >
%\VignetteIndexEntry{**New Optimizer Name**}
%\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown}
%\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8}
---
# **New Optimizer Name**
## Background
## Example
## Implementation
## **Additional headings** (optional)
## To-Do (optional)The Background section must introduce the reader to why this optimization provides improvements, and what it does. The Example section must give a real example to be optimized, and show the improvements it gave in terms of execution speed, memory usage, or others. The Implementation section must show the idea beneath the optimizer coding, this section intends to ease the understanding of the developed code if it is needed to be edited or improved. Then, as many sections as necessary can be included, where questions and challenges related to the optimizer are explained or commented. Finally, if a list of possible improvements for the optimizer were detailed, each of them should be discussed in the To-Do section.
DESCRIPTION
Package Version must be bumped, if the current version is x.y.z then it should be updated to x.y.(z+1).
NEWS.md
A entry to the NEWS.md file should be added:
# rco **x.y.(z+1)**
- Adding **New Optimizer Name** optimizer.
**...**