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Start here to learn R

r-exercises.com

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Re: Start here to learn R

#21

A paid alternative is also datacamp.com Has videos and interactive exercises you can do directly in the site. And btw, I am not affiliated with them, just a user.

I thought they were very smart to put a link to datacamp.com in the load message of data.table.

Re: Start here to learn R

#22
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more. Base graphics are absolutely intuitive for users coming from an imperative style, and base graphics are extremely fast, which is seriously useful a lot of the time. This is not to say I dislike ggplot, I love it, only that it is not the starting point for learning R because its syntax really is not idiomatic R. You'd be imposing two orthogonal learning curves on the new user. Second, while…

I disagree. The inconsistencies across the apply family makes them hard to learn, and the absence of an apply function for data frames is particularly frustrating. I obviously also disagree on what is idiomatic R. If you know ggplot2, there are a relatively few advantages to learning base graphics, if you're mostly interested in graphics for data analysis.

"If you know ggplot2"... but you need to make a lot of plots to get the hang of ggplot2. The "+" syntax (not sure what the proper name for that is) alone is completely foreign and intimidating.

If you want to make great graphs in R, you will need to learn ggplot2. If you just want to learn R, why not keep it simple at first?

Re: Start here to learn R

#23

A paid alternative is also datacamp.com Has videos and interactive exercises you can do directly in the site. And btw, I am not affiliated with them, just a user.

I've found DataCamp to be pretty good too. Have you tried DataQuest [1]?

It's mostly Python (a little R), but just wondering what others think.

[1] https://www.dataquest.io/

Re: Start here to learn R

#24

All the tutorials involve using base R packages. While OK for a tutorial, this is not reflective for real-world data analysis both in performance and usability, a lesson I have learned the hard way. (After using it for three semesters in college, I almost quit R completely in frustration) I recommend going straight to the Hadleyverse packages for the common use cases, and read the vignettes for the common use cases:…

While I appreciate the hard work Hadley has put into this ecosystem, and I detest the language wars, I can't help but feel that the world would be a better place if Hadley had put his effort into python DS modules instead. Hadley's work puts R almost at parity with python (at best!) for munging, and for academics, this long-term trend of domain languages like R or SAS becomes counterproductive. It's as if he's leadin…

S (R's ancestor) was developed in the mid-70s and 80s, at least a decade before Python was written. Then couldn't your argument be applied to those working on Python data science tools? Variety is the spice of life. :)

Re: Start here to learn R

#26

All the tutorials involve using base R packages. While OK for a tutorial, this is not reflective for real-world data analysis both in performance and usability, a lesson I have learned the hard way. (After using it for three semesters in college, I almost quit R completely in frustration) I recommend going straight to the Hadleyverse packages for the common use cases, and read the vignettes for the common use cases:…

I find this to be a great list of resources.

https://www.rstudio.com/online-learning/#R

For the Hadleyverse or Tiddyverse this is a starter book based on dplyr and other tools.

Hands-On Programming with R http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920028574.do#

Re: Start here to learn R

#27
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more. Base graphics are absolutely intuitive for users coming from an imperative style, and base graphics are extremely fast, which is seriously useful a lot of the time. This is not to say I dislike ggplot, I love it, only that it is not the starting point for learning R because its syntax really is not idiomatic R. You'd be imposing two orthogonal learning curves on the new user. Second, while…

I disagree. The inconsistencies across the apply family makes them hard to learn, and the absence of an apply function for data frames is particularly frustrating. I obviously also disagree on what is idiomatic R. If you know ggplot2, there are a relatively few advantages to learning base graphics, if you're mostly interested in graphics for data analysis.

[deleted]

Re: Start here to learn R

#28
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more. Base graphics are absolutely intuitive for users coming from an imperative style, and base graphics are extremely fast, which is seriously useful a lot of the time. This is not to say I dislike ggplot, I love it, only that it is not the starting point for learning R because its syntax really is not idiomatic R. You'd be imposing two orthogonal learning curves on the new user. Second, while…

I disagree. The inconsistencies across the apply family makes them hard to learn, and the absence of an apply function for data frames is particularly frustrating. I obviously also disagree on what is idiomatic R. If you know ggplot2, there are a relatively few advantages to learning base graphics, if you're mostly interested in graphics for data analysis.

I have to take this comment from whom it comes ie: the creator of the library obviously finds it intuitive. But there's definitely a big "brain paradigm shift" with ggplot2 which IMO would be a challenge to impose on the new user. I would argue that even you acknowedge this, since you start your Springer book with your own imperative qplot, and only get into the declarative grammar full-on in Part 2.

Re: Start here to learn R

#29

All the tutorials involve using base R packages. While OK for a tutorial, this is not reflective for real-world data analysis both in performance and usability, a lesson I have learned the hard way. (After using it for three semesters in college, I almost quit R completely in frustration) I recommend going straight to the Hadleyverse packages for the common use cases, and read the vignettes for the common use cases:…

The Hadleyverse is the best thing that ever happened to R: sane, intuitive tools that do what you expect with common-sense usage and examples. And don't forget stringr!

Stringr is probably the one tool from the Hadleyverse that removes the most frustration. String manipulation and parsing in base R is nightmarish.
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