James Balamuta
LightNews LightNews
banner
coatless.bsky.social
James Balamuta
@coatless.bsky.social
1K followers 15 following 300 posts
omnipresent explorer of the unknown, fashionably caffeinated informatics phd, amorous cavalier. design, build, analyze. #rstats on #macos + #webr and #python with #pyodide
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
coatless.bsky.social
James Balamuta @coatless.bsky.social · Jul 7
Thank you @pyopensci.org! 🙏 These 6 months as EiC have been incredibly rewarding - from reviewing innovative tools to working with an amazing community of developers. Excited to continue contributing to making computational science more accessible! #OpenSource #Python #DataScience
pyopensci.org pyOpenSci @pyopensci.org · Jul 7
Cheers to James Balamuta for wrapping up 6 months as pyOpenSci Editor in Chief! 🎉 His #R + #Python skills + passion for accessible tools made a big impact. Grateful he’ll keep contributing!

💡 Want to join our peer review crew? www.pyopensci.org/software-pee...
Graphic highlighting James Balamuta as pyOpenSci’s Editor in Chief for Winter 2025. On the left is a photo of James standing outside with a sunset over water in the background. The right side features text about James’s community impact, passions, and a fun fact about traveling to Turkey. The pyOpenSci logo appears at the top along with links to the organization’s website, Mastodon, and Discourse forum.
coatless.bsky.social
One does not simply stay away from social media. I return with: R packages, portable R, Shiny/shinylive apps, Electron integrations, Python packages, Quarto extensions, LLMs, and blog posts. The code has been reforged. The roadmap is full.
October 23, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by James Balamuta
frodsan.bsky.social
Still fascinated with #webR and its potential for teaching stats

Here students can play (even from their phones) and find out themselves how the p-value depends on sample size

pakillo.github.io/LM-GLM-GLMM-... #rstats
A screenshot of a statistics tutorial made with R, quarto and webR
October 22, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Reposted by James Balamuta
mickael.canouil.fr
@coatless.bsky.social also did that few months ago using another approach based on JavaScript.

"Pick your poison" 🙃

github.com/coatless-qua...
GitHub - coatless-quarto/toggle: Toggle Code Output in Quarto Code Cells
Toggle Code Output in Quarto Code Cells. Contribute to coatless-quarto/toggle development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by James Balamuta
ivelasq3.bsky.social
Quarto has a way to collapse code, but what if you want to collapse code OUTPUT?

The amazing @mickael.canouil.fr created an extension that does just that!!!

Check it out! github.com/mcanouil/qua...
October 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Nothing makes you feel vintage like your license getting moved to the retirement home directory. GNU put GPL 2.0 in /old-licenses/ causing #rstats packages to throw URL warnings. Somewhere a CRAN maintainer is rubbing their hands together, ready to trigger 847 email requests...
Screenshot of a code diff showing line 10 being updated. The removed line (red) shows a GPL 2.0 license URL pointing to gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html, while the added line (green) shows the same URL updated to point to gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html, indicating the license documentation has been moved to an 'old-licenses' directory.
September 26, 2025 at 6:12 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Flying to Istanbul to meet my SO's family felt like nervous excitement. Flying to California felt like possibility. Flying back home for a funeral feels like gravity remembering how to work. Now Illinois feels like living in a house where all the furniture is made of memories.
September 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
coatless.bsky.social
macOS 26 Tahoe + R 4.5.1: Keeps #rstats moving along on #macOS. Upgrade confidently, just remember to update Xcode CLI afterwards if using stan & compiled code.
A screenshot showing R 4.5.1 working under RStudio 2025.9.0.387 on macOS Tahoe (26.0.0) with a call to compiled code requiring gfortran through RcppArmadillo. A screenshot showing R 4.5.1 working under Positron 2025.9.0 (Universal) on macOS Tahoe (26.0.0) with a call to compiled code requiring gfortran through RcppArmadillo.
September 16, 2025 at 12:39 AM
coatless.bsky.social
R that travels light on #Linux: Portable R AppImages.

Now working everywhere: your Ubuntu, friend's Fedora, cousin's Arch setup (btw)

No sudo, no tears, just base R science ✨

(package support coming soon!)

#RStats #AppImage #DataScience
Terminal session showing the download and execution of an R AppImage from GitHub releases. The commands show wget downloading the ARM64 AppImage built on Ubuntu 24.04, making it executable with chmod +x, and then launching it to run R statistical analysis including a linear regression model with income vs age data, demonstrating the workflow from GitHub release to running statistical computations. VS Code showing the successful completion of an R AppImage build process. The terminal displays the build summary indicating a 76MB minimal R 4.5.1 AppImage for ARM64 architecture with package installation disabled (immutable). The output shows usage examples and confirms the build completed successfully, with R actually running at the bottom showing the standard R startup message and executing system environment commands, demonstrating the fully functional portable R installation. VS Code terminal showing R 4.5.1 running from an AppImage on ARM64 architecture. The file explorer shows the typical AppImage directory structure with usr/bin, usr/lib, and usr/share folders, demonstrating the self-contained portable nature of the R installation.
September 15, 2025 at 6:37 PM
coatless.bsky.social
RcppEnsmallen 0.2.22.1.2 on CRAN: Upstream Armadillo Changes

blog.thecoatlessprofessor.com/software-rel...

#rstats #rcpp #rcppensmallen #ensmallen
RcppEnsmallen v0.2.22.1.2 Released - Upstream Armadillo Changes – TheCoatlessProfessor
blog.thecoatlessprofessor.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:55 AM
coatless.bsky.social
Linux support 🐧

Same #rshiny → desktop workflow on #Fedora 42 aarch64:

shinyelectron::export() → #rshinylive → #AppImage → portable #Linux app

Plot twist: no more "go buy yourself a real computer" moments - you get zero #rstats dependencies too! The condescending Unix users have won this round.
September 10, 2025 at 5:49 AM
coatless.bsky.social
Core Shiny Application (Shinylive Layer): 61.9 MB

This represents the base Shiny application code and dependencies

Platform-Specific Packaging Overhead (ARM64):

Windows: 300.1 MB
macOS: 264.1 MB
Linux: 304.9 MB

Total Application Size by Platform:

Windows: 362 MB
macOS: 326.4 MB
Linux: 366.8 MB
Windows 11 File Explorer displaying the Programs folder with properties dialogs open for "My-App-Title," showing the application size as 362 MB (379,900,896 bytes) in the Local Programs directory, demonstrating the Windows build footprint. macOS Finder window showing the contents of an "electron-app" folder with various build artifacts from running {shinyelectron} to create a standalone R Shiny App, highlighting the "converted-app" executable file sized at 326.4 MB, representing the packaged macOS application bundle. Screenshot of RStudio IDE on Ubuntu 24.04 showing R code in the editor and a system file browser dialog displaying the "linux-arm64-unpacked" folder containing 76 items with a total size of 366.8 MB, representing the Linux build of the standalone R Shiny application created using {shinyelectron} with shinylive. macOS Finder window displaying the contents of the "converted-app" folder with the "shinylive-app" subfolder selected and its info panel open, showing the Shiny application components (app.json, index.html, shinylive folder, and shinylive-sw.js) with a total size of 61.8 MB (244 items). This is the core Shinylive layer footprint shared across applications.
September 9, 2025 at 9:25 PM
coatless.bsky.social
By request: Same #rshiny app → native #electron desktop app workflow now on #Windows11

shinyelectron::export() → #rshinylive → installer → app.exe

[Worth the Parallels license to record this from my Mac]

Still no #rstats dependencies for end users. Living the cross-platform life (virtually).
September 7, 2025 at 5:57 AM
coatless.bsky.social
JJ Allaire & Charles Teague (of Posit fame) launched Meridian Labs, a nonprofit dedicated to frontier AI research and evaluation tools.

Early focus: LLM evals + visualization & SWE Agent tooling for Inspect AI.

meridianlabs.ai | github.com/meridianlabs-ai

#AI #Research
Meridian Research Labs
meridianlabs.ai
September 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Prototyping #rshiny apps to native #electron desktop apps:

shinyelectron::export() → #rshinylive conversion → .dmg → Native Mac app

Zero #rstats dependencies for end users! Early days but promising 👀
September 4, 2025 at 7:35 AM
coatless.bsky.social
TIL about SciServer.org: Free scientific computing platform with persistent accounts (#NSF-funded). All the power of #JupyterHub without the setup hassle. Focus on building great teaching + research notebooks, not infrastructure! #OpenScience
Screenshot of SciServer homepage showing a blue header with the SciServer logo and "Collaborative data-driven science" tagline. The main section features a colorful nebula background with white text reading "The Science Platform" and "A collaborative environment for server-side analysis with extremely large datasets." Below are six feature boxes with icons for About, Hosted Datasets, Compute Images, Science Domains, Education, and Help, each containing brief descriptions. The page includes a "Login to SciServer" button and NSF funding acknowledgment at the bottom. Screenshot of SciServer's Education page with the same blue header design. The main content shows "Education" as the page title, followed by explanatory text about using SciServer to teach data science. The page includes sections on "How to Teach with SciServer" with detailed instructions, and an "Examples" section featuring astronomy course examples from University of St Andrews and University of North Carolina Asheville, with links to GitHub repositories containing sample notebooks.
August 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
coatless.bsky.social
{multideploy} is now on CRAN! 🎉

This #rstats 📦 streamlines file deployments across multiple #GitHub repositories. Update CI workflows, configs, and templates at scale with precision + automated PRs.

Install with: install.packages("multideploy")

CRAN: cran.r-project.org/package=mult...
August 27, 2025 at 5:16 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Request fulfilled! Converted {macrtools::openmp_*()} #OpenMP suite into standalone shell scripts for #macOS:

🎯 Auto Xcode detection & OpenMP library mapping
🔬 Diagnostics tests
🧹 Safe uninstall

📦 Repo: github.com/coatless-she...
📝 Post: blog.thecoatlessprofessor.com/programming/...
The toolkit consists of three focused shell scripts: install-openmp.sh handles automatic Xcode version detection and downloads official CRAN binaries; check-openmp.sh performs diagnostics across five categories; and uninstall-openmp.sh provides safe removal with confirmation prompts and cleanup guidance.
August 27, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by James Balamuta
grrrck.xyz
We’re working on relicensing everything under MIT
August 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
coatless.bsky.social
TIL: The web framework licensing game is mostly MIT/Apache… except Shiny for #rstats went rogue with GPL-2 😅

Shiny for #Python: MIT ✅
Gradio: MIT ✅
Streamlit: Apache 2.0 ✅
Dash: Apache 2.0 ✅
#rshiny: GPL-2 🤷‍♂️

Anyone know the backstory here?
August 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
coatless.bsky.social
After my 6th cup of coffee, I've officially entered the owl dimension. My empty mugs have finally summoned their nocturnal overlord. We communicate only in hoots and caffeine-induced anxiety now. 🦉☕
A collection of bright green coffee mugs arranged on a white kitchen counter. In the foreground is a light green mug filled with black coffee, featuring a decorative blue and green owl design with large eyes. Behind it are six empty matching bright green mugs.
August 22, 2025 at 2:21 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Discovered Soap&Skin's 'Me And The Devil' and honestly sounds like my skincare routine took a VERY dark turn 🧴😈

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfWS...
Me and the Devil
YouTube video by Soap&Skin - Topic
www.youtube.com
August 22, 2025 at 1:54 AM
coatless.bsky.social
Your main #quarto website repo shouldn't be a storage unit for every plot you've ever made 📦

#git #submodules: Give your figures their own space, keep your repo fast

blog.thecoatlessprofessor.com/programming/...
Stop Bloating Your Quarto Repository with Generated Figure Files – TheCoatlessProfessor
Learn how to use git submodules to store Quarto-generated figures in a separate repository, keeping your main website repository lightweight while maintaining version control over all assets.
blog.thecoatlessprofessor.com
August 21, 2025 at 4:24 AM
coatless.bsky.social
Does anyone know of R packages that require license keys for certain features? Curious about packages with mixed open/proprietary functionality. #RStats #SoftwareLicensing
August 18, 2025 at 10:50 PM
coatless.bsky.social
Finally, your R packages on #macOS can disappoint all your cores instead of just one of them at a time 😅

{macrtools} now installs & configures OpenMP with:

`openmp_install()` and you're done! ⚡️

mac.thecoatlessprofessor.com/macrtools/re...

#rstats #hpc
RStudio screenshot showing OpenMP-enabled R code with parallel processing functions like openmp_enabled() and openmp_limits(). The editor displays a timesTwo() function using OpenMP pragmas for parallel execution. The right panel shows macrtools documentation for OpenMP installation functions, with the console confirming OpenMP detection and showing results from querying OpenMP functions. Code: #include <Rcpp.h> #ifdef _OPENMP #include <omp.h> #endif // [[Rcpp::export]] Rcpp::IntegerVector openmp_limits() { Rcpp::IntegerVector limit_data(3, NA_INTEGER); #ifdef _OPENMP limit_data[0] = omp_get_num_procs(); limit_data[1] = omp_get_max_threads(); limit_data[2] = omp_get_thread_limit(); #endif return limit_data; } // [[Rcpp::export]] bool openmp_enabled() { bool enabled = false; #ifdef _OPENMP enabled = true; #endif return enabled; } // [[Rcpp::export]] std::vector<double> timesTwo(std::vector<double> x) { #pragma omp parallel for for (size_t i = 0; i < x.size(); ++i) { x[i] *= 2; } return x ; } /*** R openmp_enabled() openmp_limits() timesTwo(42) */ R Console on macOS displaying the automated OpenMP installation process. Shows successful download and installation of OpenMP binaries (613 KB), automatic configuration of compiler flags in ~/.R/Makevars, and confirmation that macrtools::is_openmp_installed() returns TRUE, indicating a successful setup without manual toolchain configuration.
August 9, 2025 at 8:45 AM
coatless.bsky.social
@harry.vangberg.name's wip/experimental #rstats editor looks promising for data science education - the clean interface with side-by-side code and output makes it easy for students to see immediate results and data structures as they learn R fundamentals. #edtech
harry.vangberg.name Harry Vangberg @harry.vangberg.name · Aug 6
Day 3 of building a friendly R editor (and today's workspace)
August 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM