[R] Need to study and learn about better plots

[Steve Lianoglou]

Hi,

On Jul 2, 2009, at 10:39 AM, Mark Knecht wrote:

> Hi,
>   So far my plotting needs have been sort of ignored as I got
> acquainted with R this week, but now that I have the basics in place
> for the program I wanted to write  it's time for me to start learning
> about how to make output that better suits my needs. I think I have
> two sort of charts I need to concentrate on learning how to produce:
>
> 1) Probably a trivial request - a single chart that has multiple lines
> on it in different colors. I might have 500 to 1000 lines, all
> starting at 0,0 on the left  and proceeding to the right where they
> end either above 0 or below 0. There will groups of colors depending
> on the group they are part of. I'd like a legend on the right or
> bottom that explains the colors. I should be able to add or remove
> lines at any time.
>
> 2) The closest example of the second would be a multi-study chart sort
> of like is typical in a lot of stock charting programs. Here's (I
> hope) a simple example:
>
> http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=BAC

One thing you could do is to peruse the R Graph Gallery to see what  
people can do:

http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/

In particular, the graph below looks *somehow* similar to the chart  
you link to.

http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/RGraphGallery.php?graph=109

>   Keep in mind I've not used any command other than plot() and par()
> so far. I *very* new to this. I started looking at ggplot2 last night.
> I haven't looked at Lattice.

You're looking in the right place. Here's a blog that someone is  
writing as they learn how to use ggplot2. His latest posts compare how  
to construct graphics from the lattice book " Lattice: Multivariate  
Data Visualization with R" using ggplot2:

http://learnr.wordpress.com/

That should be very useful.
Hope that helps,
-steve

--
Steve Lianoglou
Graduate Student: Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology
Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Contact Info: http://cbio.mskcc.org/~lianos/contact