How to develop a package in R?

Question

I have written some functions in R using S4 classes.

Now I want to build an R package out of these functions.

How should I proceed? Is there anything that I should do differently because I have used S4 classes?

Answer 1

Consult the following reference material:

1. Chapter 1, Creating R packages, of the Writing R extensions manual. This is the canonical source. It's the ultimate reference point, but not necessarily the best starting point.
2. A short presentation outlining the key ideas in package development and using the devtools package for development
3. Hadley's devtools wiki, particular the Package basics section.
4. The R help for ?package.skeleton and ?create in devtools.
5. The presentation by Uwe Ligges at useR!2010 on package development.
6. R Packages by Hadley Wickham.