My first computer was a Mac SE 30 which required two different boot discs to be swapped in and out while it was loading up. We had an external disc drive so you could walk away and let it alternate between the two discs.
Every time I have to import multiple libraries before starting to write anything in R or Python it makes me think about how I don’t have to boot my laptop the way I did as a kid and when will this header script no longer be need?
It hadn’t occurred to me until today, while watching a very basic intro to Python course from Maven Analytics, that there would be thousands of naming conflicts if you tried to load all the Python or R packages on CRAN. In the 1980s there were not +20k open source libraries with hundreds of thousands of named variables and protected words.
IDEs have collected some of the key packages so you don’t have to go download them and source them directly or even manage which version of a package or library aligns with your R or Python version, but each package hasn’t been tested with ALL the other packages for compatibility or naming conflicts.
I’m not sure if thinking of a name for a new open source software package is harder of easier than a new Crayola crayon color?
Image Credit Above: Mitchell O’hara-Wild
Carragee Consulting 
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