Instructor Notes

General notes

The examples gradually build up to a full analysis of the Palmer Penguins dataset, which is included in base R as penguins and penguins_raw; the final version is in this repository: the workflow (_targets.R) is plan_11.R (the last of the numbered plan files in episodes/files/plans/), the custom functions it uses are in tar_functions, and the report is penguin_report.qmd.

R version

The penguins datasets were added to base R in R version 4.5.0, so this lesson requires R 4.5.0 or later. Check that learners (and any shared server or cloud instance you plan to use) have a recent enough version of R before the workshop.

This lesson does not provide a hosted environment. If you want to run the workshop on a cloud service such as Posit Cloud, you will need to set one up yourself with R 4.5.0 or later and the packages listed in the setup instructions.

Optional episodes:

The “Managing Packages” episode covers a more advanced topic (different ways to load packages, tracking package versions with renv, and namespace conflicts) and could be skipped if you are short on time. The rest of the lesson does not depend on it: the workflow already loads its packages with library().

The “A Brief Introduction to Functions” episode is an optional episode and will depend on the learners coming to your workshop. We would recommend having a show of hands (or stickies) who has experience with functions, and if you have learners who do not, run this episode.

targets relies so much on functions we believe it is worth spending a little time on if you have learners inexperienced with them, they will quickly fall behind and not be empowered to use targets at the end of the workshop if they don’t get a short introduction.

Introduction

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Introduce the idea of reproducibility and why / who would want to use targets


First targets Workflow

Instructor Note

Episode summary: First chance to get hands dirty by writing a very simple workflow


A Brief Introduction to Functions

Instructor Note

Episode summary: A very brief introduction to functions, when you have learners who have no experience with them.


Loading Workflow Objects

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to get at the objects that we built


Instructor Note

  • To reinforce the concept of targets running in a separate R session, you may want to pretend trying to run penguins_data, then feigning surprise when it doesn’t work and using it as a teaching moment (errors are pedagogy!).

The Workflow Lifecycle

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Demonstrate typical cycle of running targets: make, inspect, adjust, make…


Best Practices for targets Project Organization

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Demonstrate best-practices for project organization


Managing Packages

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to load packages and maintain package versions


Branching

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to use branching


Parallel Processing

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to use parallel processing


Working with External Files

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to read and write external files


Reproducible Reports with Quarto

Instructor Note

Episode summary: Show how to write reports with Quarto