replace GET() with RETRY()

[jameslamb]

Thanks for for this awesome project!

In this PR, I'd like to propose swapping out calls to httr::GET() etc. with httr::RETRY(). This will make the package more resilient to transient problems like brief network outages or periods where the service(s) it hits are overwhelmed. In my experience, using retry logic almost always improves the user experience with HTTP clients.

I'm working on chircollab/chircollab20#1 as part of Chicago R Collab, an R 'unconference' in Chicago.

[jtrecenti]

Thanks! Just one question: Is that a way that httr::RETRY causes other unexpected error, or should it be exactly like httr::GET used many times? I'm not used to httr::RETRY, so I would like to be sure it cannot cause any unexpected problems before merging.

[jameslamb]

Thanks! Just one question: Is that a way that httr::RETRY causes other unexpected error, or should it be exactly like httr::GET used many times? I'm not used to httr::RETRY, so I would like to be sure it cannot cause any unexpected problems before merging.

In my experience, httr::RETRY() behaves the same as httr::GET() for all practical purposes...it takes the same arguments (plus additional ones that are specific to retry like pause_cap) and always returns an httr response object. I've used RETRY() in my own packages for maybe 2 years and never saw a situation where it did something that GET(), POST(), etc. wouldn't do.

[jtrecenti]

thanks! 😄