[R] Statistical computing

[Frank E Harrell Jr]

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 11:42:18 -0500
Tanya Murphy <tmurph6 at po-box.mcgill.ca> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I've been trying to familiarize myself with the computing tools of the trade 
> (e.g. SAS, R, Perl, LaTex) and I've been getting somewhere with the individual 
> programs, but I'm trying to get a better sense of how to integrate these 
> tools. I'd like to use scripts and create reports in a more organized way. Can 
> anyone recommend books or, better yet free online articles, on this topic? 
> Maybe I should be a little more specific about what I do: I'm a research 
> assistant in clinical epidemiology doing mainly data management and analysis. 
> I do a number of repetitive tasks like updating a research database from the 
> original clinic database and other sources, create reports, create graphical 
> output for individual patients, as well as work on individual research 
> projects. Unfortunately I am not working closely with 'real' statisticians who 
> have probably developped good work habits using these tools. Any advice on 
> 'the big picture' would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Tanya Murphy
>

Take a look at the following:

http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat/teaching/statcomp/notes.pdf
http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat/s/doc/splus.pdf
http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat/teaching/statcomp
http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat/presentations/feh/clinreport/dmcreport.pdf

For statistical reports you have chosen well, in considering intergrating R and LaTeX.  The Alzola-Harrell text also covers a bit about using make and Perl to run scripts (to get data from SAS to R, run R, etc.).
-- 
Frank E Harrell Jr              Prof. of Biostatistics & Statistics
Div. of Biostatistics & Epidem. Dept. of Health Evaluation Sciences
U. Virginia School of Medicine  http://hesweb1.med.virginia.edu/biostat