Thirteen Simple Steps for Creating An R Package with an External C++ Library

Abstract

We desribe how we extend R with an external C++ code library by using the Rcpp package. Our working example uses the recent machine learning library and application 'Corels' providing optimal yet easily interpretable rule lists <arXiv:1704.01701> which we bring to R in the form of the 'RcppCorels' package. We discuss each step in the process, and derive a set of simple rules and recommendations which are illustrated with the concrete example.