Basics

• Readability is important

• E.g.,

  My name is Ethan. I am 36 years old.

  MYnameIS ETHAN………………. I_AM_36 years OLD

• Using the same style as others is helpful

Whitespace

• Indentation what the brain reconizes, use it regardless of language (and braces)
• 2 space indents

for (i in 1:10){
  do_things()
}

• Spaces after commas and around operators

range(x, x + 10)

Naming

• snake_case

Documentation & Comments

• Documentation
  • How to use code
  • Use Roxygen comments for functions
• Comments
  • Why & how code works
  • Only if it code is confusing to read

Long lines

• Lines < 80 characters long
• Add an indicator for this in RStudio
  • Tools -> Global Options -> Code -> Display -> Show Margin
• Use implied line continuation
  • If it’s clear that a line isn’t finished R will go on to the next line

site_data <- data.frame(
  site_id = c(1, 2, 3, 4),
  type = c('control', 'control', 'experiment', 'experiment')
)

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