galaaz 0.4.10 → 2.0.0

data/blogs/nse_dplyr/nse_dplyr.Rmd

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ title: "Non Standard Evaluation in dplyr with Galaaz"
 author:
     - "Rodrigo Botafogo"
     - "Daniel Mossé - University of Pittsburgh"
-tags: [Tech, Data Science, Ruby, R, GraalVM]
-date: "10/05/2019"
+tags: [Tech, Data Science, Ruby, R, JRuby, "GNU R", Galaaz, dplyr]
+date: "10/05/2019 (narrative updated for Galaaz 2.0, 2026)"
 output:
   html_document:
     self_contained: true
@@ -21,80 +21,104 @@ fontsize: 11pt
 ---
 
 ```{r setup, echo=FALSE, message = FALSE}
+#R.options(crayon__enabled: false)
+options(crayon.enabled = FALSE)
 library('dplyr')
 library('tibble')
 ```
 
 # Introduction
 
-In this post we will see how to program with _dplyr_ in Galaaz.
+According to Steven Sagaert’s answer on Quora about “Is programming language R overrated?”:
 
-## But first, what is Galaaz??
+> R is a sophisticated language with an unusual (i.e. non-mainstream) set of features. It‘s 
+> an impure functional programming language with sophisticated metaprogramming and 3 
+> different OO systems.
+
+> Just like common lisp you can completely customise how things work via metaprogramming. 
+> The biggest example is the tidyverse: by creating it’s own evaluation system (tidyeval)
+> was able to create a custom syntax for dplyr.
+
+> Mastering R (the language) and its ecosystem is not a matter of weeks or months but 
+> takes years. The rabbit hole goes pretty deep…
+
+Although a highly configurable language can give programmers a great deal of power,
+it can also take years to master—as noted above. Programming with _dplyr_, for instance,
+means learning evaluation rules that are not always approachable for **statisticians and
+analysts who are not full-time software engineers**. That is not a criticism: R was **built**
+for **statisticians** who need trustworthy results on a deadline, not necessarily for building
+large applications.
+
+**Unfortunately**, when such a user moves on to more **sophisticated** programming patterns,
+the learning curve can become a real hurdle. 
+
+In this post we will see how to program with _dplyr_ in Galaaz and how Ruby can simplify
+the learning curve of mastering _dplyr_ coding.
+
+# But first, what is Galaaz??
 
 Galaaz is a system for tightly coupling Ruby and R.  Ruby is a powerful language, with
-a large community, a very large set of libraries and great for web development.  However,
+a large community, a very large set of libraries and great for web development.  It is also
+easy to learn. However,
 it lacks libraries for data science, statistics, scientific plotting and machine learning.
 On the other hand, R is considered one of the most powerful languages for solving all of the
-above problems.  Maybe the strongest competitor to R is Python with libraries such as NumPy,
-Pandas, SciPy, SciKit-Learn and many more.
+above problems.  **Python** is a strong competitor, with NumPy, pandas, SciPy, scikit-learn,
+and **many thousands** of other packages on PyPI.  We will not dwell on R **versus** Python here:
+both are excellent languages with different strengths.
+Our interest is to bring to yet another excellent language, Ruby, the data science libraries
+that it lacks.
 
 With Galaaz we do not intend to re-implement any of the scientific libraries in R. However, we 
 allow for very tight coupling between the two languages to the point that the Ruby 
 developer does not need to know that there is an R engine running.  Also, from the point of
-view of the R user/developer Galaaz looks a lot like R, with just minor syntactic difference,
-so there is almost no learning courve for the R developer. And as we will see in this
-post, programming with _dplyr_ is easier in Galaaz than in R.
+view of the R user/developer, Galaaz looks a lot like R, with just minor syntactic difference,
+so there is almost no learning curve for the R developer. And as we will see in this
+post that programming with _dplyr_ is easier in Galaaz than in R.
 
-R users are probably quite knowledgeable about _dplyr_, for the Ruby developer, _dplyr_ and
+R users are probably quite knowledgeable about _dplyr_. For the Ruby developer, _dplyr_ and
 the _tidyverse_ libraries are a set of libraries for data manipulation in R, developed by
-Hardley Wickham, chief scientis at RStudio and a prolific R coder and writer.
-
-For the coupling of Ruby and R we use new technologies provided by Oracle: GraalVM, 
-TruffleRuby and FastR:
-
-     GraalVM is a universal virtual machine for running applications
-     written in JavaScript, Python 3, Ruby, R, JVM-based languages like Java,
-     Scala, Kotlin, and LLVM-based languages such as C and C++.
-
-     GraalVM removes the isolation between programming languages and enables
-     interoperability in a shared runtime. It can run either standalone or in
-     the context of OpenJDK, Node.js, Oracle Database, or MySQL.
-
-     GraalVM allows you to write polyglot applications with a seamless way to
-     pass values from one language to another. With GraalVM there is no copying
-     or marshaling necessary as it is with other polyglot systems. This lets
-     you achieve high performance when language boundaries are crossed. Most
-     of the time there is no additional cost for crossing a language boundary
-     at all.
-
-     Often developers have to make uncomfortable compromises that require them
-     to rewrite their software in other languages. For example:
-
-      * “That library is not available in my language. I need to rewrite it.” 
-      * “That language would be the perfect fit for my problem, but we cannot
-        run it in our environment.” 
-      * “That problem is already solved in my language, but the language is
-        too slow.”
-    
-    With GraalVM we aim to allow developers to freely choose the right language
-    for the task at hand without making compromises.
-
-Interested readers should also check out the following sites:
-
-* [GraalVM Home](https://www.graalvm.org/)
-* [TruffleRuby](https://github.com/oracle/truffleruby)
-* [FastR](https://github.com/oracle/fastr)
-* [Faster R with FastR](https://medium.com/graalvm/faster-r-with-fastr-4b8db0e0dceb)
-* [How to make Beautiful Ruby Plots with Galaaz](https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-to-make-beautiful-ruby-plots-with-galaaz-320848058857)
-* [Ruby Plotting with Galaaz: An example of tightly coupling Ruby and R in GraalVM](https://towardsdatascience.com/ruby-plotting-with-galaaz-an-example-of-tightly-coupling-ruby-and-r-in-graalvm-520b69e21021)
-* [How to do reproducible research in Ruby with gKnit](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-do-reproducible-research-in-ruby-with-gknit-c26d2684d64e)
-* [R for Data Science](https://r4ds.had.co.nz/)
-* [Advanced R](https://adv-r.hadley.nz/)
+Hadley Wickham, Chief Scientist at Posit (formerly RStudio) and a prolific R coder and writer.
+
+For the coupling of Ruby and R, **Galaaz 2.0** uses **[JRuby](https://www.jruby.org/)** (Ruby on the JVM)
+together with **GNU R**. A **bridge** sends expressions and data between Ruby and an R process so that
+Ruby can call **dplyr** and the rest of the tidyverse as if they were part of the same workflow.
+An **earlier** Galaaz line of work used Oracle’s **GraalVM** with **TruffleRuby** and **FastR** in a single
+runtime; that approach is **no longer** the supported stack—see the project **manual** for setup,
+**`bin/galaaz-jruby`**, and **gKnit**.
+
+
+# Tidyverse and dplyr
+
+In [What is the tidyverse?](https://rviews.rstudio.com/2017/06/08/what-is-the-tidyverse/) the 
+tidyverse is explained as follows:
+
+> The tidyverse is a coherent system of packages for data manipulation, exploration and 
+> visualization that share a common design philosophy. These were mostly developed by 
+> Hadley Wickham himself, but they are now being expanded by several contributors. Tidyverse 
+> packages are intended to make statisticians and data scientists more productive by 
+> guiding them through workflows that facilitate communication, and result in reproducible 
+> work products. Fundamentally, the tidyverse is about the connections between the tools 
+> that make the workflow possible.
 
-## Programming with dplyr
+_dplyr_ is one of the many packages that are part of the tidyverse.  It is:
 
-This post will follow closely the work done in https://dplyr.tidyverse.org/articles/programming.html,
-by Hardley Wickham. In it, Hardley states:
+> a grammar of data manipulation, providing a consistent set of verbs that help you solve 
+> the most common data manipulation challenges:
+
+> 1. mutate() adds new variables that are functions of existing variables
+> 2. select() picks variables based on their names.
+> 3. filter() picks cases based on their values.
+> 4. summarise() reduces multiple values down to a single summary.
+> 5. arrange() changes the ordering of the rows.
+
+Very often R is used interactively and users use _dplyr_ to manipulate a single dataset
+without programming. When users want to replicate their work for
+multiple datasets, programming becomes necessary.
+
+# Programming with dplyr
+
+In the vignette ["Programming with dplyr"](https://dplyr.tidyverse.org/articles/programming.html), 
+Hadley Wickham states:
 
 > Most dplyr functions use non-standard evaluation (NSE). This is a catch-all term that 
 > means they don’t follow the usual R rules of evaluation. Instead, they capture the 
@@ -109,6 +133,8 @@ by Hardley Wickham. In it, Hardley states:
 > database backends because dplyr itself doesn’t do any work, but instead generates the SQL 
 > that tells the database what to do.
 
+But then he goes on:
+
 > Unfortunately these benefits do not come for free. There are two main drawbacks:
 
 > Most dplyr arguments are not referentially transparent. That means you can’t replace a value 
@@ -132,8 +158,27 @@ filter(df, my_var == 1)
 ```
 > This makes it hard to create functions with arguments that change how dplyr verbs are computed.
 
-In this post we will see that programming with _dplyr_ in Galaaz does not require knowledge of
-non-standard evaluation in R and can be accomplished by utilizing normal Ruby constructs.
+As a result of this, programming with _dplyr_ requires learning a set of new ideas and concepts.
+In this vignette Hadley goes on showing how to program ever more difficult problems with _dplyr_, 
+showing the problems it faces and the new concepts needed to solve them.
+
+In this blog, we will look at all the problems presented by Harley on the vignette and show how
+those same problems can be solved using Galaaz and the Ruby language. 
+
+This blog is organized as follows: first we show how to write expressions using Galaaz.  
+Expressions are a fundamental concept in _dplyr_ and are not part of basic Ruby.  We extend
+the Ruby language create a manipulate expressions that will be used by _dplyr_ functions. 
+
+Then we show very succintly how Ruby and R can be integrated and how R functions are 
+transparently called from Ruby. Galaaz [user manual](https://github.com/rbotafogo/galaaz/wiki)
+(still in development) goes in much deeper detail about this integration.
+
+Next in section "Data manipulation wiht _dplyr_" we go through all the problems on the 
+_dplyr_ vignette and look at how they are solved in Galaaz.  We then discuss why programming
+with Galaaz and _dplyr_ is easier than programming with _dplyr_ in plain R.
+
+The following section looks at another more advanced problem and shows that Galaaz can still
+handle it without any difficulty.  We then provide further reading and concluding remarks.
 
 # Writing Expressions in Galaaz
 
@@ -142,37 +187,55 @@ Galaaz extends Ruby to work with expressions, similar to R's expressions build w
 formulae.  For instance, in mathematics, the expression $y = sin(x)$ describes a function but cannot
 be computed unless the value of $x$ is bound to some value. 
 
-Let's take a look at some of those expressions in Ruby:
+Expressions are fundamental in _dplyr_ programming as they are the input to _dplyr_ functions,
+for instance, as we will see shortly, if a data frame has a column named 'x' and we want 
+to add another column, y, to this dataframe that has the values of 'x' times 2, then we would
+call a _dplyr_ function with the expression 'y = x * 2'.
+
+## A note on notation
+
+This blog was written in Rmarkdown and automatically converted to HTML or PDF (depending on
+where you are reading this blog) with gKnit (a tool provided by Galaaz). In Rmarkdown, it is
+possible to write text and code blocks that are executed to generate the final report. Code
+blocks appear inside a 'box' and the result of their execution appear either in another type 
+of 'box' with a different background (HTML) or as normal text (PDF).  Every output line from
+the code execution is preceded by '##'.
 
 ## Expressions from operators
 
-The code bellow creates an expression summing two symbols. Note that :a and :b are Ruby symbols and
-are not bound to any value at the time of expression definition:
+The code below creates an expression summing two symbols. Note that :a and :b are Ruby symbols and
+are not bound to any values at the time of expression definition:
 
 ```{ruby expressions}
 exp1 = :a + :b
 puts exp1
 ```
-We can build any complex mathematical expression such as:
+In Galaaz, we can build any complex mathematical expression such as:
 
 ```{ruby expr2}
-exp2 = (:a + :b) * 2.0 + :c ** 2 / :z
+exp2 = (R[:a] + R[:b]) * 2.0 + R[:c] ** 2 / R[:z]
 puts exp2
 ```
-The 'L' after two indicates that 2 is an integer.
+Expressions are printed with the same format as the equivalent R expressions. The 'L' after 
+2 indicates that 2 is an integer. 
+
+The R developer should note that in R, if she writes the
+number '2', the R interpreter will convert it to float. In order to get an interger she
+should write '2L'. Galaaz follows Ruby notation and '2' is an integer, while '2.0' is a
+float.
 
 It is also possible to use inequality operators in building expressions:
 
 ```{ruby expr3}
-exp3 = (:a + :b) >= :z
+exp3 = (R[:a] + R[:b]) >= R[:z]
 puts exp3
 ```
 Expressions' definition can also make use of normal Ruby variables without any problem:
 
 ```{ruby expr_with_var}
 x = 20
-y = 30
-exp_var = (:a + :b) * x <= :z - y
+y = 30.0
+exp_var = (R[:a] + R[:b]) * x <= R[:z] - y
 puts exp_var
 ```
 
@@ -181,75 +244,82 @@ notation for those operators such as (.gt, .ge, etc.).  So the same expression w
 above can also be written as
 
 ```{ruby expr4}
-exp4 = (:a + :b).ge :z
+exp4 = (R[:a] + R[:b]).ge R[:z]
 puts exp4
 ```
 
-Two type of expression, however, can only be created with the functional representation 
-of the operators,  those are expressions involving '==', and '='.  In order to write an 
-expression involving '==' we
-need to use the method '.eq' and for '=' we need the function '.assign'
+Two types of expressions, however, can only be created with the functional representation 
+of the operators.  Those are expressions involving '==', and '='. This is the case since
+those symbols have special meaning in Ruby and should not be redefined.
+
+In order to write an expression involving '==' we
+need to use the method '.eq' and for '=' we need the function '.assign':
 
 ```{ruby expr5}
-exp5 = (:a + :b).eq :z
+exp5 = (R[:a] + R[:b]).eq R[:z]
 puts exp5
 ```
 
 ```{ruby expr6}
-exp6 = :y.assign :a + :b
+exp6 = R[:y].assign R[:a] + R[:b]
 puts exp6
 ```
-In general we think that using the functional notation is preferable to using the 
-symbolic notation as otherwise, we end up writing invalid expressions such as
+Users should be careful when writing expressions not to inadvertently use '==' or '=' as 
+this will generate an error, that might be a bit cryptic (in future releases of Galaza, we 
+plan to improve the error message).
 
 ```{ruby exp_wrong, warning=FALSE}
-exp_wrong = (:a + :b) == :z
+exp_wrong = (R[:a] + R[:b]) == R[:z]
 puts exp_wrong
 ```
-and it might be difficult to understand what is going on here.  The problem lies with the fact that
-when using '==' we are comparing expression (:a + :b) to expression :z with '=='.  When the 
-comparison is executed, the system tries to evaluate :a, :b and :z, and those symbols at 
-this time are not bound to anything and we get a "object 'a' not found" message.
-If we only use functional notation, this type of error will not occur.
+The problem lies with the fact that
+when using '==' we are comparing expression (R[:a] + R[:b]) to expression R[:z] with '=='.  When this 
+comparison is executed, the system tries to evaluate :a, :b and :z, and those symbols, at 
+this time, are not bound to anything giving the "object 'a' not found" message.
 
 ## Expressions with R methods
 
 It is often necessary to create an expression that uses a method or function.  For instance, in
 mathematics, it's quite natural to write an expressin such as $y = sin(x)$. In this case, the
-'sin' function is part of the expression and should not immediately be executed. When we want 
+'sin' function is part of the expression and should not be immediately executed. When we want 
 the function to be part of the expression, we call the function preceeding it
 by the letter E, such as 'E.sin(x)'
 
 ```{ruby method_expression}
-exp7 = :y.assign E.sin(:x)
+exp7 = R[:y].assign E.sin(R[:x])
 puts exp7
 ```
-
-Expressions can also be written using '.' notation:
+Function expressions can also be written using '.' notation:
 
 ```{ruby expression_with_dot}
-exp8 = :y.assign :x.sin
+exp8 = R[:y].assign R[:x].sin
 puts exp8
 ```
-
-When a function has multiple arguments, the first one can be used before the '.':
+When a function has multiple arguments, the first one can be used before the '.'.  For instance,
+the R concatenate function 'c', that concatenates two or more arguments can be part of 
+an expression as:
 
 ```{ruby expression_multiple_args}
-exp9 = :x.c(:y)
+exp9 = R[:x].c(R[:y])
 puts exp9
 ```
+Note that this gives an OO feeling to the code, as if we were saying 'x' concatenates 'y'. As a
+side note, '.' notation can be used as the R pipe operator '%>%', but is more general than the
+pipe.
 
 ## Evaluating an Expression
 
-Expressions can be evaluated by calling function 'eval' with a binding. A binding can be provided
-with a list:
+Although we are mainly focusing on expressions to pass them to _dplyr_ functions, expressions 
+can be evaluated by calling function 'eval' with a binding. 
+
+A binding can be provided with a list or a data frame as shown below:
 
 ```{ruby eval_expression_list}
-exp = (:a + :b) * 2.0 + :c ** 2 / :z
+exp = (R[:a] + R[:b]) * 2.0 + R[:c] ** 2 / R[:z]
 puts exp.eval(R.list(a: 10, b: 20, c: 30, z: 40))
 ```
 
-... with a data frame:
+with a data frame:
 
 ```{ruby eval_expression_df}
 df = R.data__frame(
@@ -269,8 +339,8 @@ this post, we do not have enough space to write a complete manual on Galaaz
 (a short manual can be found at: https://www.rubydoc.info/gems/galaaz/0.4.9), so we will 
 present only a few examples scripts using Galaaz.
 
-Basically, to call an R function from Ruby with Galaaz, one only needs to preceed the function
-with 'R.'.  For instance, to create a vector in R, the 'c' function is used.  From Galaaz, a
+Basically, to call an R function from Ruby with Galaaz, one only needs to preced the function
+with 'R.'.  For instance, to create a vector in R, the 'c' function is used. In Galaaz, a
 vector can be created by using 'R.c':
 
 ```{ruby vector}
@@ -294,32 +364,77 @@ the expression $y = sin(45^\circ)$, which is $y = 0.850...$.  In this case,
 we will use 'R.sin':
 
 ```{ruby eval_sin}
-exp10 = :y.assign R.sin(45)
+exp10 = R[:y].assign R.sin(45)
 puts exp10
 ```
 
-# Filtering using expressions
+# Data manipulation wiht _dplyr_
+
+In this section we will give a brief tour _dplyr_'s usage in Galaaz and how to manipulate 
+data in Ruby with it.  This section will follow [_dplyr_'s vignette](https://dplyr.tidyverse.org/articles/dplyr.html) that explores the nycflights13 data set. This dataset contains all 336776 
+flights that departed from New York City in 2013. The data comes from the US Bureau of 
+Transportation Statistics.
+
+Let's start by taking a look at this dataset:
+
+```{ruby nycflights13}
+R.library('nycflights13')
+# check it's dimension
+puts ~R[:flights].dim
+# and the structure
+~R[:flights].str
+```
+
+Now, let's use a first verb of _dplyr_: 'filter'. This verb, obviously, will filter the data
+by the given expression. In the next block, we filter by columns 'month' and 'day'. The
+first argument to the filter function is symbol ':flights'. A Ruby symbol, when given to
+an R function will convert to the R variable of the same name, in this case 'flights', that
+holds the nycflights13 data frame. 
+
+The second and third arguments are expressions that will be used by the filter function to
+filter by columns, looking for entries in which the month and day are equal to 1.
+
+```{ruby filter}
+puts R.filter(:flights, (R[:month].eq 1), (R[:day].eq 1))
+```
+
 
-Now that we know how to write expression and call R functions let's do some data manipulation in
-Galaaz.  Let's first start by creating the same data frame that we created previously in section
-"Programming with dplyr":
+## Programming with _dplyr_: problems and how to solve them in Galaaz
+
+In this section we look at the list of problems that Hadley describes in the "Programming with dplyr"
+vignette and show how those problems are solved and coded with Galaaz. Readers interested in
+how those problems are treated in _dplyr_ should read the vignette and use it as a comparison with
+this blog.
+
+## Filtering using expressions
+
+Now that we know how to write expressions and call R functions, let's do some data manipulation in
+Galaaz.  Let's first start by creating a data frame. In R, the 'data.frame' function creates a
+data frame.  In Ruby, writing 'data.frame' will not parse as a single object. To call R 
+functions that have a '.' in them, we need to substitute the '.' with '__'. So, method
+'data.frame' in R, is called in Galaaz as 'R.data\_\_frame':
 
 ```{ruby df}
 df = R.data__frame(x: (1..3), y: (3..1))
 puts df
 ```
-The 'filter' function can be called on this data frame either by using 'R.filter(df, ...)' or 
-by using dot notation.  We prefer to use dot notation as shown bellow.  The argument to 'filter'
-in Galaaz should be an expression. Note that if we gave to filter a Ruby expression such as
+
+_dplyr_ provides the 'filter' function, that filters data in a data brame. The 'filter' 
+function can be called on this data frame either by using 'R.filter(df, ...)' or 
+by using dot notation.  
+
+-------FIX---------
+
+We prefer to use dot notation as shown below.  The argument to 'filter' should be an 
+expression. Note that if we gave to filter a Ruby expression such as
 'x == 1', we would get an error, since there is no variable 'x' defined and if 'x' was a variable
 then 'x == 1' would either be 'true' or 'false'. Our goal is to filter our data frame returning
-all rows in which the 'x' value is equal to 1. To express this we want: ':x.eq 1', where :x will
+all rows in which the 'x' value is equal to 1. To express this we want: 'R[:x].eq 1', where :x will
 be interpreted by filter as the 'x' column.
 
 ```{ruby filter_exp}
-puts df.filter(:x.eq 1)
+puts df.filter(R[:x].eq 1)
 ```
-
 In R, and when coding with 'tidyverse', arguments to a function are usually not 
 *referencially transparent*. That is, you can’t replace a value with a seemingly equivalent 
 object that you’ve defined elsewhere. In other words, this code
@@ -331,16 +446,16 @@ filter(df, my_var == 1)
 Generates the following error: "object 'x' not found.
 
 However, in Galaaz, arguments are referencially transparent as can be seen by the 
-code bellow.  Note initally that 'my_var = :x' will not give the error "object 'x' not found" 
+code below.  Note initially that 'my_var = R[:x]' will not give the error "object 'x' not found" 
 since ':x' is treated as an expression and assigned to my\_var. Then when doing (my\_var.eq 1), 
-my\_var is a variable that resolves to ':x' and it becomes equivalent to (:x.eq 1) which is
+my\_var is a variable that resolves to ':x' and it becomes equivalent to (R[:x].eq 1) which is
 what we want.
 
 ```{ruby my_var}
-my_var = :x
+my_var = R[:x]
 puts df.filter(my_var.eq 1)
 ```
-As stated by Hardley
+As stated by Hadley
 
 > dplyr code is ambiguous. Depending on what variables are defined where, 
 > filter(df, x == y) could be equivalent to any of:
@@ -352,9 +467,9 @@ df[x == df$y, ]
 df[x == y, ]
 ```
 In galaaz this ambiguity does not exist, filter(df, x.eq y) is not a valid expression as 
-expressions are build with symbols.  In doing filter(df, :x.eq y) we are looking for elements
+expressions are build with symbols.  In doing filter(df, R[:x].eq y) we are looking for elements
 of the 'x' column that are equal to a previously defined y variable.  Finally in 
-filter(df, :x.eq :y) we are looking for elements in which the 'x' column value is equal to
+filter(df, R[:x].eq R[:y]) we are looking for elements in which the 'x' column value is equal to
 the 'y' column value. This can be seen in the following two chunks of code:
 
 ```{ruby disamb1}
@@ -362,15 +477,15 @@ y = 1
 x = 2
 
 # looking for values where the 'x' column is equal to the 'y' column
-puts df.filter(:x.eq :y)
+puts df.filter(R[:x].eq R[:y])
 ```
 
 ```{ruby disamb2}
 # looking for values where the 'x' column is equal to the 'y' variable
 # in this case, the number 1
-puts df.filter(:x.eq y)
+puts df.filter(R[:x].eq y)
 ```
-# Writing a function that applies to different data sets
+## Writing a function that applies to different data sets
 
 Let's suppose that we want to write a function that receives as the first argument a data frame
 and as second argument an expression that adds a column to the data frame that is equal to the
@@ -395,11 +510,12 @@ Unfortunately, in R, this function can fail silently if one of the variables isn
 in the data frame, but is present in the global environment.  We will not go through here how
 to solve this problem in R.
 
-In Galaaz the method mutate_y bellow will work fine and will never fail silently.
+In Galaaz the method mutate_y below will work fine and will never fail silently.
 
 ```{ruby mutate_y, warning=FALSE}
 def mutate_y(df)
-  df.mutate(:y.assign :a + :x)
+  # Mutate column names are Ruby kwargs (y: …). Use .assign only for R `<-` expressions.
+  df.mutate(y: R[:a] + R[:x])
 end
 ```
 Here we create a data frame that has only one column named 'x':
@@ -410,18 +526,18 @@ puts df1
 ```
 
 Note that method mutate_y will fail independetly from the fact that variable 'a' is defined and
-in the scope of the method.  Variable 'a' has no relationship with the symbol ':a' used in the
+in the scope of the method.  Variable 'a' has no relationship with the symbol `R[:a]` used in the
 definition of 'mutate\_y' above:
 
 ```{ruby call_mutate_y, warning = FALSE}
 a = 10
 mutate_y(df1)
 ```
-# Different expressions
+## Different expressions
 
-Let's move to the next problem as presented by Hardley where trying to write a function in R 
+Let's move to the next problem as presented by Hadley where trying to write a function in R 
 that will receive two argumens, the first a variable and the second an expression is not trivial.
-Bellow we create a data frame and we want to write a function that groups data by a variable and
+Below we create a data frame and we want to write a function that groups data by a variable and
 summarises it by an expression:
 
 ```{r diff_expr}
@@ -434,13 +550,13 @@ df <- data.frame(
   b = sample(5)
 )
 
-as.data.frame(df) 
+as.data.frame(df)
 
 d2 <- df %>%
   group_by(g1) %>%
   summarise(a = mean(a))
 	       
-as.data.frame(d2)	       
+as.data.frame(d2)
 
 d2 <- df %>%
   group_by(g2) %>%
@@ -449,7 +565,7 @@ d2 <- df %>%
 as.data.frame(d2)	       
 ```
 
-As shown by Hardley, one might expect this function to do the trick:
+As shown by Hadley, one might expect this function to do the trick:
 
 ```{r diff_exp_fnc}
 my_summarise <- function(df, group_var) {
@@ -464,40 +580,40 @@ my_summarise <- function(df, group_var) {
 
 In order to solve this problem, coding with dplyr requires the introduction of many new concepts
 and functions such as 'quo', 'quos', 'enquo', 'enquos', '!!' (bang bang), '!!!' (triple bang). 
-Again, we'll leave to Hardley the explanation on how to use all those functions.
+Again, we'll leave to Hadley the explanation on how to use all those functions.
 
 Now, let's try to implement the same function in galaaz.  The next code block first prints the
-'df' data frame define previously in R (to access an R variable from Galaaz, we use the tilda 
+'df' data frame defined previously in R (to access an R variable from Galaaz, we use the tilde 
 operator '~' applied to the R variable name as symbol, i.e., ':df'.  We then create the 
 'my_summarize' method and call it passing the R data frame and the group by variable ':g1':
 
 ```{ruby diff_exp_ruby_func}
-puts ~:df
+puts ~R[:df]
 print "\n"
 
 def my_summarize(df, group_var)
   df.group_by(group_var).
-    summarize(a: :a.mean)
+    summarize(a: R[:a].mean)
 end
 
-puts my_summarize(:df, :g1).as__data__frame
+puts my_summarize(~R[:df], R[:g1])
 ```
 It works!!! Well, let's make sure this was not just some coincidence
 
 ```{ruby group_g2}
-puts my_summarize(:df, :g2).as__data__frame
+puts my_summarize(~R[:df], R[:g2])
 ```
 
 Great, everything is fine! No magic, no new functions, no complexities, just normal, standard Ruby
 code.  If you've ever done NSE in R, this certainly feels much safer and easy to implement.
 
-# Different input variables
+## Different input variables
 
 In the previous section we've managed to get rid of all NSE formulation for a simple example, but
 does this remain true for more complex examples, or will the Galaaz way prove inpractical for
 more complex code?
 
-In the next example Hardley proposes us to write a function that given an expression such as 'a'
+In the next example Hadley proposes us to write a function that given an expression such as 'a'
 or 'a * b', calculates three summaries.  What we want a function that does the same as these R
 statements:
 
@@ -526,16 +642,16 @@ def my_summarise2(df, expr)
   )
 end
 
-puts my_summarise2((~:df), :a)
-puts my_summarise2((~:df), :a * :b)
+puts my_summarise2((~R[:df]), :a)
+puts my_summarise2((~R[:df]), R[:a] * R[:b])
 ```
 
 Once again, there is no need to use any special theory or functions.  The only point to be 
 careful about is the use of 'E' to build expressions from functions 'mean', 'sum' and 'n'.
 
-# Different input and output variable
+## Different input and output variable
 
-Now the next challenge presented by Hardley is to vary the name of the output variables based on 
+Now the next challenge presented by Hadley is to vary the name of the output variables based on 
 the received expression.  So, if the input expression is 'a', we want our data frame columns to
 be named 'mean\_a' and 'sum\_a'.  Now, if the input expression is 'b', columns
 should be named 'mean\_b' and 'sum\_b'.
@@ -561,7 +677,7 @@ mutate(df, mean_b = mean(b), sum_b = sum(b))
 #> 4     2     2     5     4      3    15
 #> # … with 1 more row
 ```
-In order to solve this problem in R, Hardley needs to introduce some more new functions and notations:
+In order to solve this problem in R, Hadley needs to introduce some more new functions and notations:
 'quo_name' and the ':=' operator from package 'rlang'
 
 Here is our Ruby code:
@@ -575,8 +691,8 @@ def my_mutate(df, expr)
             sum_name => E.sum(expr))
 end
 
-puts my_mutate((~:df), :a)
-puts my_mutate((~:df), :b)
+puts my_mutate((~R[:df]), :a)
+puts my_mutate((~R[:df]), :b)
 ```
 It really seems that "Non Standard Evaluation" is actually quite standard in Galaaz! But, you 
 might have noticed a small change in the way the arguments to the mutate method were called.
@@ -586,9 +702,9 @@ and variable mean\_name is not followed by ':' but by '=>'.  This is standard Ru
 
 [explain....]
 
-# Capturing multiple variables
+## Capturing multiple variables
 
-Moving on with new complexities, Hardley proposes us to solve the problem in which the 
+Moving on with new complexities, Hadley proposes us to solve the problem in which the 
 summarise function will receive any number of grouping variables.
 
 This again is quite standard Ruby.  In order to receive an undefined number of paramenters
@@ -600,7 +716,7 @@ def my_summarise3(df, *group_vars)
     summarise(a: E.mean(:a))
 end
 
-puts my_summarise3((~:df), :g1, :g2).as__data__frame
+puts my_summarise3((~R[:df]), :g1, :g2)
 ```
 
 # Why does R require NSE and Galaaz does not?
@@ -618,7 +734,7 @@ In Ruby, there is no lazy evaluation of parameters and 'a' is always a variable
 Variables assume their value as soon as they are used, so 'x = a' is immediately evaluate and 
 variable 'x' will receive the value of variable 'a' as soon as the Ruby statement is executed. 
 Ruby also provides the notion of a symbol; ':a' is a symbol and does not evaluate to anything.
-Galaaz uses Ruby symbols to build expressions that are not bound to anything: ':a.eq :b' is
+Galaaz uses Ruby symbols to build expressions that are not bound to anything: 'R[:a].eq R[:b]' is
 clearly an expression and has no relationship whatsoever with the statment 'a = b'. By using
 symbols, variables and expressions all the possible ambiguities that are found in R are 
 eliminated in Galaaz.
@@ -628,12 +744,12 @@ of input they are expecting, they might be expecting regular variables or they m
 expecting expressions and the R function will know how to deal with an input of the form 
 'a = b', now for the Ruby developer it might not be immediately clear if it should call the 
 function passing the value 'true' if variable 'a' is equal to variable 'b' or if it should
-call the function passing the expression ':a.eq :b'.
+call the function passing the expression 'R[:a].eq R[:b]'.
 
 
 # Advanced dplyr features
 
-In the blog: Programming with dplyr by using dplyr (https://www.r-bloggers.com/programming-with-dplyr-by-using-dplyr/) Iñaki Úcar shows surprise that some R users are trying to code in dplyr avoiding
+In the blog: [Programming with dplyr by using dplyr](https://www.r-bloggers.com/programming-with-dplyr-by-using-dplyr/) Iñaki Úcar shows surprise that some R users are trying to code in dplyr avoiding
 the use of NSE.  For instance he says:
 
 > Take the example of seplyr. It stands for standard evaluation dplyr, and enables us to 
@@ -651,9 +767,9 @@ In the following examples, we show the use of functions 'group\_by\_at', 'summar
 features of characters in the Starwars movies:
 
 ```{ruby starwars}
-puts (~:starwars).head.as__data__frame
+puts (~R[:starwars]).head
 ```
-The grouped_mean function bellow will receive a grouping variable and calculate summaries for
+The grouped_mean function below will receive a grouping variable and calculate summaries for
 the value\_variables given:
 
 ```{r grouped_mean}
@@ -678,13 +794,23 @@ def grouped_mean(data, grouping_variables, value_variables)
   data.
     group_by_at(grouping_variables).
     mutate(count: E.n).
-    summarise_at(E.c(value_variables, "count"), ~:mean, na__rm: true).
+    summarise_at(E.c(value_variables, "count"), R[:mean], na__rm: true).
     rename_at(value_variables, E.funs(E.paste0("mean_", value_variables)))
 end
 
-puts grouped_mean((~:starwars), "eye_color", E.c("mass", "birth_year")).as__data__frame
+puts grouped_mean((~R[:starwars]), "eye_color", E.c("mass", "birth_year"))
 ```
 
+# Further reading
+
+* [JRuby](https://www.jruby.org/) — Ruby on the JVM (Galaaz 2.0)
+* [How to make Beautiful Ruby Plots with Galaaz](https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-to-make-beautiful-ruby-plots-with-galaaz-320848058857) (plots; narrative partly pre-2.0)
+* [Ruby Plotting with Galaaz in GraalVM](https://towardsdatascience.com/ruby-plotting-with-galaaz-an-example-of-tightly-coupling-ruby-and-r-in-graalvm-520b69e21021) (older stack; ideas still useful)
+* [How to do reproducible research in Ruby with gKnit](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-do-reproducible-research-in-ruby-with-gknit-c26d2684d64e)
+* [R for Data Science](https://r4ds.had.co.nz/)
+* [Advanced R](https://adv-r.hadley.nz/)
+* Historical context: [GraalVM](https://www.graalvm.org/), [TruffleRuby](https://github.com/oracle/truffleruby), [FastR](https://github.com/oracle/fastr)
+
 # Conclusion
 
 Ruby and Galaaz provide a nice framework for developing code that uses R functions. Although R is