Think about splitting README in to README and a vignette

[TimTaylor]

I wonder if it's a better idea to move the explanation in the README on how the comparison between data.table and ivs to a vignette and then use the README to show how the functions work? Both are really useful bits of information but I think more on the package functions would help a new user coming to this package.

Originally posted by @Lextuga007 in #9 (comment)

[Lextuga007]

When updating the README refer to the universe for installing:

Install from NHS-R Community universe

Get the latest released, stable version from nhs-r-community:

# Enable repository from nhs-r-community
options(repos = c(
  nhsrcommunity = 'https://nhs-r-community.r-universe.dev',
  CRAN = 'https://cloud.r-project.org'))

Download and install NHSRepisodes in R

install.packages('NHSRepisodes')

With remotes

You can install the latest development version from github using remotes:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("nhs-r-community/NHSRepisodes")

Also question if remotes should be replaced with pak as mentioned in the usethis issues r-lib/usethis#733 and is now that package's default.

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("nhs-r-community/NHSRepisodes")

[TimTaylor]

I'd avoid mentioning GitHub. I'm thinking something along the lines of the following (once on CRAN)

You can install the latest release of NHSRepisodes via CRAN

install.packages('NHSRepisodes')

The unstable development version can be installed via the NHS R-universe repository

install.packages(
   'NHSRepisodes',
   repos = c('https://nhs-r-community.r-universe.dev', 'https://cloud.r-project.org')
)

My thought process is:

• The package has C code which means that installing from GitHub would require RTools on Windows.
• Users shouldn't need to install any additional packages to install the package (e.g. pak/devtools/remotes).
• Keeps Git / GitHub as source control / issue tracking (as opposed to distribution).
• People wanting to add code would need to install the package locally with git anyway.

Thoughts?

[Lextuga007]

I agree - that's a very pragmatic approach 🙂

[Lextuga007]

Enhancements to readme/vignette:
From #42 the Readme generates random text which gets updated and perhaps should be set using withr::seed?

Also as I update my packages frequently the package version may change and suggest using renv? Alternatively the code is run and cached?