Recently Dirk Eddelbuettel pointed out that our R function debugging wrappers would be more convenient if they were available in a low-dependency micro package dedicated to little else. Dirk is a very smart person, and like most R users we are deeply in his debt; so we (Nina Zumel and myself) listened and immediately moved the wrappers into a new micro-package: wrapr.

Image: Friedensreich Hundertwasser

wrapr is a deliberately limited package. It does two things:

1. It supplies R argument capture function debug wrappers (previously distributed in WVPlots and replyr). We have a short introduction here. We have also snuck in some improvements in how results are written back (detailed in the vignette).
2. It supplies the “let” execution macro (previously distributed in replyr). “let” wraps convenient “non-standard name capture” interfaces into easier to program over “standard or parametric interfaces.” We have a short introduction here.

Future versions of replyr and WVPlots will re-export these functions. This means going forward there will be only one version of these functions, yet older code written against them should continue to work (in particular: all of our previous writing and videos demonstrating the methods).

Both of the wrapr techniques (let-wrapping and debug-wrapping) are quite powerful and can greatly speed up your ability to write and debug R code. Please give these methods a try, and also please tell others about the wrapr package.