Simon P. Couch
@simonpcouch.com
3.4K followers 190 following 180 posts
he/him - writing statistical software at Posit, PBC (née RStudio)🥑 simonpcouch.com, @simonpcouch elsewhere
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Reposted by Simon P. Couch
simonwillison.net
Claude Code tip: prompt "use sub-agents" and it will do exactly that, firing up multiple parallel sub-agents to achieve a task, each with a fresh context

"Write markdown documentation for the context passed to each of the templates in this project. Use sub-agents." simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/11/...


    ⏺ I'll help you write markdown documentation for the context passed to each template in this project. Let me start by exploring the codebase to understand the template structure and then use sub-agents to document them comprehensively.

    ⏺ Search(pattern: "**/*.html")
      ⎿  Found 47 files (ctrl+o to expand)

    ⏺ Search(pattern: "render.*template|render_template")
      ⎿  Found 16 files (ctrl+o to expand)

    [...]

    ⏺ Now let me launch sub-agents to analyze different template contexts in parallel:

    ⏺ Task(Document index template context)
      ⎿  Done (12 tool uses · 86.4k tokens · 1m 13s)

    ⏺ Task(Document database template context)
      ⎿  Done (15 tool uses · 55.4k tokens · 1m 41s)

    ⏺ Task(Document table template context)
      ⎿  Done (14 tool uses · 85.2k tokens · 1m 44s)

    ⏺ Task(Document query/row template contexts)
      ⎿  Done (17 tool uses · 78.7k tokens · 1m 55s)

    ⏺ Task(Document special template contexts)
      ⎿  Done (26 tool uses · 116.1k tokens · 1m 50s)
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
posit.co
🚀 The 4th edition of the Posit AI Newsletter is out!

This biweekly, bite-sized update by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com covers Claude Sonnet 4.5, OpenAI investments, situational awareness, and more.

Read the full issue here: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
simonpcouch.com
ICYMI, @sara-altman.bsky.social and I have been writing a biweekly newsletter on AI and open source data science on the @posit.co blog!

A bit about how that came to be on my #rstats blog: www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2025-10...
A screenshot of the Posit Blog homepage showing statistics (936+ posts, 22+ categories, 386+ tags) and two featured blog post cards. Both posts are AI Newsletter roundups from September 2025 by Sara Altman and myself, featuring AI-related R package hexes in their hero images.
simonpcouch.com
Oh, I see someone else suggested it first! Nice!
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
niccrane.bsky.social
🤩 My code produced when using LLMs to work on #rstats code got waaaaay better after I read this blog post by @simonpcouch.com on his Claude setup!

www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2025-07...
How I’m using Claude Code to write R code | Simon P. Couch – Simon P. Couch
www.simonpcouch.com
simonpcouch.com
Just dropped a WHOLE BUNCH of these somewhere👀👀👀

#positconf2025
A picture of a stack of hex stickers for the stacks package. The stickers have a tan and orange peaches & cream theme rather than the usual blueberry.
simonpcouch.com
Just wrapped up a talk at #positconf2025 about LLM evaluation with R! Such a joy to hang out with #rstats folks in person and hear about what others are working on.

Resources and slides: github.com/simonpcouch/...
A chat interface showing a conversation starting with a user saying "Are there any talks about evals" and a response "Yes, Simon Couch just gave one, and he hopes you enjoyed it." There's a teddy bear mascot wearing a teal shirt and cap in the bottom right corner of the chat window. A picture from the side of a conference session room, with myself standing in front.
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
kellybodwin.com
The always delightful @k-bott.bsky.social shares the educational principles of Posit Academy for teaching professionals in the wild:

Practice that is:
💫 Repeated over time,
💕 relevant to their domain,
🪜 within their reach, and
👯‍♂️ conducted in a community.

#positconf2025
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
jasminedaly.bsky.social
I absolutely *love* that @simonpcouch.com mentioned using Google Sheets to easily supply input(s) and target(s) for evaluating #LLM quality {vitals} 🧸

Sometimes selecting right-sized solutions means deviating the "serious" data science techniques to get things done, creatively!

#positconf25
screenshot of Googlesheets data from Simon's Posit Conf 2025 Talk
simonpcouch.com
@sara-altman.bsky.social and I just shared the second release of the Posit AI Newsletter! In this edition, a landmark settlement on LLM training data and copyright, the emergence of agentic browsers, and more.

Read and subscribe on the Posit Blog: posit.co/blog/2025-09...
A graphic displaying, on the left, three robot icons, and on the left, a selection of LLM-related R package hex stickers.
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
libbyheeren.bsky.social
I hope no one is tired of seeing adorable #pawsitconf posts full of cute pets and punny talk titles, because @trevinflickinger.com helped his THREE dogs submit talks 😭 JUST LOOK AT THEM

#rstats #python #databs #positconf2025
A promotional image for a fake data science conference run by pets. The left half of the square image is blue and says Data Science in your Golden Years: How to stay involved after retirement, pawsit conf 2025. On the right side is a photo of a greying golden retriever dog up to his chest in a river or pond. At the bottom right is the dog's name, George, and company - Retired. This is all a bit of fun produced by the folks at #Posit, Libby Heeren and Rachael Dempsey, for the #rstats #python and #databs communities A promotional image for a fake data science conference run by pets. The left half of the square image is blue and says Introducing houndR: a tool for uncovering hidden gems, pawsit conf 2025. On the right side is a photo of a black and white herding dog lounging on a grey sofa with a light pink blanket draped over it. At the bottom right is the dog's name, Clyde, and company - Emerald Analytics. This is all a bit of fun produced by the folks at #Posit, Libby Heeren and Rachael Dempsey, for the #rstats #python and #databs communities A promotional image for a fake data science conference run by pets. The left half of the square image is blue and says My Data Journey: overcoming hurdles and keeping my eye on the ball, pawsit conf 2025. On the right side is a photo of a black dog with her tongue hanging out, sitting on a fabric-covered table next to a sign that we can only see the edge of. At the bottom right is the dog's name, Kiley, and company - Shenanigans Fly Ball Team. This is all a bit of fun produced by the folks at #Posit, Libby Heeren and Rachael Dempsey, for the #rstats #python and #databs communities
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
thomasp85.com
I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
ggplot2 4.0.0
A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.
www.tidyverse.org
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
libbyheeren.bsky.social
People keep telling me they can't afford to attend #PositConf2025 next week, so I need to make a public service announcement: attending virtually is very affordable (or free!) & is amazing! Get registered & hangout with me on the Discord server!! #databs #rstats #python
Screenshot from https://posit.co/conf-pricing-2025/ showing the posit conf virtual ticket pricing. $99 for standard virtual ticket, $49 for Government and Non-profit employees, and Free for students, academics, and needs-based attendees. There are hand-drawn doodles by Libby that highlight each option and one note says "Plus, Virtual Day!"
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
atheriel.bsky.social
There's been a big push at Posit this summer to get high-quality OpenTelemetry support out to the #rstats community (a longstanding dream of mine).

I think {mirai} is the first package release to showcase this work, and as per usual with @shikokuchuo.net, it was done in record time!
shikokuchuo.net
tidyverse blog: mirai 2.5.0

www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/09...

This milestone release delivers enhanced observability through OpenTelemetry, reproducible parallel RNG, and key user interface improvements.

We’ve also packed in twice as many changes as usual!
#Rstats #tidyverse
mirai 2.5.0
mirai - minimalist async evaluation framework for R - brings production-grade parallel and distributed computing to the ecosystem.
www.tidyverse.org
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
stephango.com
somehow I just learned there's a variety of blackberries called obsidian, and of course it makes the best jam
stephango.com/quality-software
photo of toast with blackberry jam
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
posit.co
Posit @posit.co · Sep 4
🚀 We’re excited to share the first edition of the Posit AI Newsletter!

Curated by Posit’s Sara Altman and Simon Couch, this biweekly newsletter keeps you up to speed with what’s happening in the AI world, both at Posit and beyond.

📫 Read the first issue: posit.co/blog/2025-08...
simonpcouch.com
Using the crap out of this extension as I work on my #positconf2025 slides and loooving it.

Something tells me we'll be seeing some masterfully-placed images in #quarto slides at conf this year. :)
emilhvitfeldt.bsky.social
Happy to announce ✨quarto-revealjs-editable✨

This fully supersedes the imagemover extension, as I back then didn't realize the potential. You can now also move, resize, change font size and alignment for text in your slides

github.com/EmilHvitfeld...
#quarto #slidecrafting
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
liomys.mx
Two weeks to go 😬
I'll be presenting on the fun work I've been doing on spreadsheets + R
#rstats #positconf
A square flyer with the text "I'm speaking at posit conf 2025" Atlanta
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
rainbowr.org
Sign-up for the next round of the rainbowR buddies scheme is open! Buddies will be paired/introduced on Sept 2nd 🌈👯‍♂️

If you're LGBTQ+ and code in #RStats, and want an opportunity to connect with someone else in the community (through a random pairing), then this is for you 😃

rainbowr.org/buddies
A promotional image for 'rainbowR buddies' program with a vibrant rainbow striped background. The main text is displayed on a navy blue rectangle in the centre. The word 'rainbowR' appears at the top in multi-colored letters, followed by 'Buddies!' in yellow. Three bullet points explain: buddy pairs are randomly assigned, opportunity to forge connection, and chat about R or anything else! The bottom shows 'Sign-up by Mon Sept 1st' in green text, followed by website information 'rainbowr.org/buddies' in blue.
simonpcouch.com
So stoked to share about the first release of the Posit AI Newsletter!

@sara-altman.bsky.social and I have been working on a pilot of this newsletter internally for a few months now—an opinionated and pragmatic snapshot of AI news released every two weeks.

First edition: posit.co/blog/2025-08...
A graphic displaying, on the left, three robot icons, and on the left, a selection of LLM-related R package hex stickers.
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
topepo.bsky.social
Slides from my #rstats talk “Measuring LLM Effectiveness” at #dataconfAI with @simonpcouch.com.

topepo.github.io/2025_NYR/

Video in about a month.

Great conference!