There seems to be an inexorable push to the Tidyverse in recent years. I remain hopeful, however, that Base-R (and DataTable) will also continue to thrive.
----------
Edit for clarity: I mean use of Base-R without requiring use of the Tidyverse. Most people seem to learn R through the Tidyverse these days and don't understand its drawbacks. As they supplant the earlier generations of R users, it seems inevitable at times that the Tidyverse will take over entirely - this article brings a little bit of hope that Base-R won't be supplanted by but merely supplemented by the Tidyverse.
> I am mostly confused by what the author thinks the selling point is.
-------------------
From the article:
> You don’t need to use any special desktop software; you mount the Walkman as a USB storage device and transfer files. Wait… that’s it? Yes!
>The player indexes any music you add, but keeps the files in place. This lets me use rsync to regularly diff and copy new ripped CDs or downloaded tracks across, even on FreeBSD. It also decouples syncing from music organising, so no more finagling iTunes in Wine, or using the garbage new macOS Music.app. As a (diagnosed) OCD suffer, this literally makes me happier than it should.
----------
These are features I had in my MP3 player about the time the first iPod came out (looked like a thumbdrive with a couple of buttons and a 2-line LCD screen on its side). Features I highly prefer, along with the fact that no internet connection is required at any time. I'm not looking for a device to be the front end for Spotify, Apple, or any other service - just an MP3 player that lets me play podcasts, music, lectures, etc. - e.g., any audio file that I want to, ideally in most of the common audio formats (including ogg).
Testing out of a course used to generally be available for freshman level courses but rarely for anything more advanced than that. (The exception might be that one could generally test out of up to a year of calculus since some people don't consider calculus a freshman course - e.g., business majors, etc.) It was a cheaper option at some universities than the AP exams were for students that had taken AP courses, although AP courses were not required to test out of a course. The testing out option enabled high school students that had taken advanced courses to start university more in-line with their backgrounds rather than having to repeat courses for no reason.
--------------
Edit: that was decades ago - don't forgo an AP exam thinking you can test out unless you already have admission and have verified the availability and costs of testing out of a course.
(A technician discovers how to do simple arithmetical calculations in a world where no remembers arithmetic since its all automated away.)
More information regarding the short story on its Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power
The short story itself can be found online.