[R] R: Tools for thinking about data analysis and graphics

Joshua Wiley jwiley.psych at gmail.com
Thu Oct 7 06:14:40 CEST 2010


On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:04 PM, Jeffrey Spies <jspies at virginia.edu> wrote:
> Hi, Michael,
>
> When I teach/preach on R, I emphasize the language's focus on data,
> both in its objects and operations. It might seems basic, but it's
> fundamental to most of the features you and others have mentioned. As
> a statistical programming language, what we intend to do with R is
> often very naturally accomplished using vector operations on tabular
> data, where columns represent variables of the same data type and rows
> represent observations of these variables for a given member of the
> dataset.  Fortunately, these are core components of R.  For instance,
> we can easily perform complex selections of variables and/or members,
> which, more often than not, serve as input to or power the functions
> that generate the statistics and graphics we care about.
> Unfortunately, vector operations seem to be difficult for people to
> learn how to use properly, and there are penalties for not using them,
> but as they say: no pain, no gain. :)
>
> If you'd be willing to share the materials you create for your talk,
> I'd be interested in seeing them.

I would also be interested in seeing your presentation, if you are
comfortable sharing (actually I'd love for you to come out to my
department and present it, but...)

Josh

>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff.
>
<snip>

-- 
Joshua Wiley
Ph.D. Student, Health Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
http://www.joshuawiley.com/



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