RStudio launches Shiny for Python, announces change in brand name

Shiny, the single, main package for R will now be available in Python, CTO Joe Cheng announced in an RStudio conference held today. Shiny’s framework helps developers build web applications using Python’s data stack. However, Cheng pointed out that the framework is still in the initial stages of production. 

Normally, RStudio makes a soft launch of its products to a small group of people who have access and can give feedback before it is released to the public. However, Shiny’s early release was done discreetly before the conference. Shiny will now be a part of other Python packages like Dash and Streamlit. Cheng said that Shiny’s addition will offer a separate set of features to the users. 

Shiny for R was launched a decade ago in July 2012. R, used to be considered a niche language at that point. Cheng added that R had a special feature that distinguished it from other languages–it allowed named arguments to be kept before positional ones within a function. 

A Shiny Python application can be deployed on most of the platforms meant for Shiny for R, like shinyapps.io and RStudio Server, as well as static web servers using platforms like WebAssembly. Cheng intends to offer the same ease in the future for Shiny in R. 

RStudio made an announcement recently regarding changing its name to Posit, signalling its plans to move beyond R and cater to users of Python and Visual Studio Code.