Links to other packages

[maelle]

This issue is part of this JOSS review

The README states "As a successor of the packages BatchJobs and BatchExperiments, batchtools".

• Maybe you could explain why it is a successor of those packages, e.g. what it does better? Is it meant to replace the other two packages?

• In the README of those two packages I could not find a reference to batchtools. It might make sense to add a link to batchtools in the README (and even documentation for non Github users) of BatchJobs and BatchExperiments, if batchtools does some tasks better?

[maelle]

I have to correct what I have just written, I see the packages are compared in NEWS.md, sorry. But my second suggestion remains valid I think (in particular, for users that find the packages via the JSS paper).

[maelle]

Another thought, the doc of batchtools (README, vignette?) could maybe include a mention of other packages in "Parallel computing: Resource managers and batch schedulers " from https://cran.r-project.org/web/views/HighPerformanceComputing.html (batch and flowr) and compare batchtools to them?

[maelle]

Similarly, in the Pi example vignette it is stated "The function batchMap(fun, ...) works analogously to Map(f, ...) of the base package.": maybe you could add a sentence about why to choose batchMap other Map (I guess the answer is that you can do more things with batchMap)?

[mllg]

I'm now mentioning the packages and the HPC task view in the readme. I can add some info to the README of BatchJobs/BatchExperiments, too. I'm unsure how to reach user not using GitHub.

@berndbischl Any thoughts on this?

[maelle]

A not so nice way would be to have a message each time the users load BatchJobs or BadExperiments. And deprecation messages for some functions?

[mllg]

I think a call to .Deprecated would be too invasive because these messages are simple warnings. It would probably obscure the "regular" warnings raised if something really is not working like intended.

A packageStartupMessage sound like a good idea to me.

[berndbischl]

A not so nice way would be to have a message each time the users load BatchJobs or BadExperiments.

I think this is the best / most appropriate way to handle this. batchtools is a clear successor. there really is no downside to use the new package (except for minor name and API changes) , and all further development will happen in bt.

the only reason to still use BJ and BE is to "reproduce" your old code, at least IMHO, so living with a packageStartupMessage from now on seems really OK. and in all other cases users are made aware of the new better option

[berndbischl]

@mllg

Maybe you could explain why it is a successor of those packages, e.g. what it does better? Is it meant to replace the other two packages?

but i think @masalmon is completely correct that it is very hard to see for new users why bt is better, in the README on GH and the DESC in the package. We really need to link to a little page that explains why bt is preferable (i.e. that it does not need a database and will there able to handle a) more jobs b) be a lot more robust on different systems)

what do you think?

[mllg]

Here is the packageStartupMessage: https://github.com/tudo-r/BatchJobs/commit/d2789126f2d6660cb65dc78b7c7240072007aada

I'll refactor the NEWS and put an explanation as a new section into the README.

[mllg]

I've put a short section in the README of batchtools.

@berndbischl Can you add a link to the README of BJ/BE? I think we have done enough then to redirect users.

[mllg]

I've added links to batchtools in the respective README and as packageStartupMessage.