I just submitted the first release of the GillespieSSA package to CRAN. After much debating I finally decided to adhere to the unwritten R version numbering policy of starting really really low (and asymptotically approaching 1.0-0) . Thus, the first release is versioned as GillespieSSA 0.1-0. At this point the package is only available as a tar ball but I will be working on making a zip package.

The package is about 10 days late! Ever since I got back from the useR! meeting I have been single handedly dedicating my time writing the reference manual for the package (the so called Rd files). I have to admit that I seriously underestimated the amount of work this takes. Of course it does not have to take this long but if anyone is supposed to be able to use the package then proper documentation is critical. Academically speaking this may of course appear as a bit of a waste of time. I figure, however, that producing a piece of software as technical as an R package should count for something (it’s not the typical achievement the average Joe blow pulls off). After all most of the R Development Core Team and many package authors are academic researchers and I am sure they put their extRacuRRiculaR activities in their CV. Any enlightened person realizes, of course, that the world is a better place thanks to all the these seriously committed people. Another reason I am spend all this time on writing the documentation is because I will use parts of it as the framework for (at least one) publication to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

Ok, it’s way to late for any sane person to stay up. Gotta go, it’s time to snooze.