Acknowledgements

This thesis would not be possible without many people.

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dianne Cook and Rob J Hyndman. They are outstanding supervisors, providing excellent insights on statistical computing and graphics during our weekly supervisory meetings. I’m deeply impressed by their dynamics, enthusiasm, and visions about open source software and data science, all of which have formed the support and encouragement for me to continue with this non-traditional research path.

I thank Heike Hofmann for hosting me at Iowa State University during the summer of 2018. I enjoyed many discussions with Heike, where I received brilliant questions and insightful advice on my research. I thank Stuart Lee and Mitchell O’Hara-Wild for countless conversations on software development, that helped to shape this thesis. I thank David Frazier for being the best pingpong partner, truly boosting the creative thinking process.

I thank Emi Tanaka for sending me PRs for proofreading my thesis on Github, unlocking the power of an open-sourced research compendium. I thank Wenjing Wang and Carson Sievert for being so helpful in the early days of my PhD. I thank the R community, the tidyverse team, and all NUMBATs for ongoing inspiration.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank my mother for her unceasing love.