tidyverse / tidyverse/ggplot2

The future of vars()

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documentation internals :mag_right:
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R
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Description

vars() have been deprecated in the rest of tidyverse and is now in an odd position in ggplot2. Due to the non-standard semantics of facet specifications there are no real way to avoid some type of collector function with the same semantics as vars() so the current plan is to let it exist purely as a ggplot2 thing, but switch back to promoting formula notation in documentation examples etc... vars() will then only be promoted as a utility for programming with ggplot2 and not for interactive use.

Feedback from the maintainer team on this is very welcome - I've never really used vars() myself so my attachment to it is very limited

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the current vars() usage in ggplot2 documentation examples and the facet specification entry points. The issue asks for maintainer feedback before deciding whether formula notation should be promoted and vars() retained mainly for programming. Done would require an agreed direction and an explicitly scoped documentation change.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
r
Domain
data-visualization, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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