Please share some use cases why we would use reticulate (Python and R)

[ktanizar]

Hi Community,

Can anyone share the reason you would use the reticulate package?

I've been using R and Shiny for the past few years and do not find any need to use Python (yet). I would like to learn Python and am beyond excited to know that we can use it along with R in RStudio.

Thank you!
Ketty

[technocrat]

Three cases:

1. Need a package in Python that's not readily available in R
2. Coming from Python to take advantage of R packages, it's difficult to orient to functional programming (what is wanted, rather than how to produce it)
3. Need to do a lot of procedural programming in Python that can be done in R but less easily

[jalsalam]

I have been learning it because of the presence of a Python package not available in R. For me it is because it is a niche subject matter package with a small audience. I am also hoping that using reticulate will allow some degree of collaboration within the research community I'm part of between Python and R users.

[ktanizar]

What are some examples of Python packages not available in R? I am not familiar with Python and want to learn more through reticulate. Thanks all!

[ycherkas]

I mainly use it for API, authorizations and such. Lots of readily available packages and functions. The others are: NLP work is ahead in Python community, and maybe some database or data lake interface stuff.

And best of all - you just call Python function just like you would call R function