docs/source/developers/guide/architectural_overview.rst

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.. SCOPE OF THIS SECTION
.. This section should include architectural overview
.. of the Arrow project. If possible the content should be
.. written in words easy understandable to beginner not
.. necessary acquainted with the library and the technical
.. details.

.. _architectural_overview:

**********************
Architectural Overview
**********************

A general overview of Apache Arrow project can be found on the
`front page <https://arrow.apache.org/>`_ and in the
`Apache Arrow Overview <https://arrow.apache.org/overview/>`_.
You can also have a look at the
`Frequently Asked Questions <https://arrow.apache.org/faq/>`_.

For an Architectural Overview of Arrow's libraries please
refer to:

- :ref:`py_arch_overview`
- R package Architecture can be found on this page.


R package Architectural Overview
--------------------------------

.. figure:: ../images/R_architectural_overview.png
   :alt: Main parts of R package architecture: dplyr-*,
         dplyr-funcs*, tools, tests and src/.

* The ``r/R/dplyr-*`` files define the verbs used in a regular
  dplyr syntax on Arrow objects.
* The ``r/R/dplyr-funcs*`` files define bindings to Arrow C++
  functions that can be used with already defined dplyr verbs.
* All the C++ code connected to the R package lives in ``arrow/r/src``.
  It also includes C++ code which connects libarrow (the Arrow C++
  library) and the R code in package.
* If the libarrow source package is bundled with R package using
  ``make sync-cpp`` command then it will be included in the
  ``r/tools/cpp`` folder.

**Additionally**

* The ``r/man`` directory includes generated R documentation that
  shouldn't be updated directly but in the corresponding ``.R`` file.
* The vignettes are
  `"a long-form guide to the package" <https://r-pkgs.org/vignettes.html#introduction>`_
  and can be found in ``r/vignettes``.