R bindings

[wjones127]

Description

Would like to have R bindings for Delta Table and implement Dataset API for deltalake in R.

Use Case

R bindings would allow R users access to Delta tables. Arrow Dataset bindings would allow them to use Arrow engine, DuckDB, or any other compatible query engine to process them.

Related Issue(s)

Umbrella issue in Apache Arrow: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-14730

Plan

I am happy to work on this. Here is a tentative outline of work:

• Create an R package wrapper for Delta Table.
• Build CI scripts to build and test R package.
• Implement Dataset functionality (blocked on https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-15317)
• Submit the package to CRAN

How

Rust bindings are still new to R, but the extendr package looks promising.