[R] Stop masking base R functions/rethink namespacing #21953
Description
The package startup message about masking base functions can be scary. We should avoid masking base functions without a compelling reason (i.e. let's do arrow_array() instead of array(), arrow_table()). The arrow versions do very different things than the base functions; plus, end users shouldn’t be dealing directly with Tables and Arrays, so they don’t need to figure so prominently in the public API of the package.
Reporter: Neal Richardson / @nealrichardson
Assignee: Neal Richardson / @nealrichardson
PRs and other links:
Note: This issue was originally created as ARROW-5505. Please see the migration documentation for further details.