Automating R Development with Elmer and Chores

It's not every day that we get to dive into a brand new release of R, but we get to do just that in episode 202! We share our takes on the major new features of R 4.5.0. We also preview the re-imagination of the engine powering R-based APIs, and the LLM-powered helper to get some of those R package development chores done.
Episode Links

• This week's curator: Eric Nantz: @rpodcast@podcastindex.social (Mastodon) & @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) & @theRcast (X/Twitter)
• What's new in R 4.5.0?
• plumber2
• Introducing chores
• Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2025-W16

Supplement Resources

• {basepenguins} Convert files that use palmerpenguins to work with datasets https://ellakaye.github.io/basepenguins/
• Upgrading from {plumber} https://posit-dev.github.io/plumber2/articles/migration.html
• {chores} gallery https://simonpcouch.github.io/chores/articles/gallery.html
• {chores} custom helpers https://simonpcouch.github.io/chores/articles/custom.html

Supporting the show

• Use the contact page at https://serve.podhome.fm/custompage/r-weekly-highlights/contact to send us your feedback
• R-Weekly Highlights on the Podcastindex.org - You can send a boost into the show directly in the Podcast Index. First, top-up with Alby, and then head over to the R-Weekly Highlights podcast entry on the index.
• A new way to think about value: https://value4value.info
• Get in touch with us on social media
  • Eric Nantz: @rpodcast@podcastindex.social (Mastodon), @rpodcast.bsky.social (BlueSky) and @theRcast (X/Twitter)
  • Mike Thomas: @mike_thomas@fosstodon.org (Mastodon), @mike-thomas.bsky.social (BlueSky), and @mike_ketchbrook (X/Twitter) 

Music credits powered by OCRemix

• Put the lime in the Koopa shell and drink it all up - Mario Party - Mel Decision, darmock, DeLuxDolemite, Siolfor the Jackal - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04836
• Watermelon Flava - Breath of Fire III - Joshua Morse, posu yan - https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01411