R For Dummies Author: Joris Meys Andrie de Vries | Language: English | ISBN:
1119962846 | Format: EPUB
R For Dummies Description
Master the programming language of choice among statisticians and data analysts worldwide
Coming to grips with R can be tough, even for seasoned statisticians and data analysts. Enter R For Dummies, the quick, easy way to master all the R you'll ever need. Requiring no prior programming experience and packed with practical examples, easy, step-by-step exercises, and sample code, this extremely accessible guide is the ideal introduction to R for complete beginners. It also covers many concepts that intermediate-level programmers will find extremely useful.
- Master your R ABCs ? get up to speed in no time with the basics, from installing and configuring R to writing simple scripts and performing simultaneous calculations on many variables
- Put data in its place ? get to know your way around lists, data frames, and other R data structures while learning to interact with other programs, such as Microsoft Excel
- Make data dance to your tune ? learn how to reshape and manipulate data, merge data sets, split and combine data, perform calculations on vectors and arrays, and much more
- Visualize it ? learn to use R's powerful data visualization features to create beautiful and informative graphical presentations of your data
- Get statistical ? find out how to do simple statistical analysis, summarize your variables, and conduct classic statistical tests, such as t-tests
- Expand and customize R ? get the lowdown on how to find, install, and make the most of add-on packages created by the global R community for a wide variety of purposes
- Open the book and find:
- Help downloading, installing, and configuring R
- Tips for getting data in and out of R
- Ways to use data frames and lists to organize data
- How to manipulate and process data
- Advice on fitting regression models and ANOVA
- Helpful hints for working with graphics
- How to code in R
- What R mailing lists and forums can do for you
- Paperback: 406 pages
- Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (June 25, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1119962846
- ISBN-13: 978-1119962847
- Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Given the series' reputation, R for Dummies should be suited for readers with little or no experience in programming or R. After a cover to cover read, I can say that this book delivers. It helps to have some experience with a command line interface paradigm (in other words, you should not be afraid of typing commands into the computer) or at the least, to be susceptible to some new concepts. The book guides the reader through every step from a blinking console cursor to a handsome trellis graphic and assumes no prior experience with R.
Throughout the book, all the examples are executable, which means that the reader can have a rich hands-on (dare I say fun?) experience with managing the data. Topics covered give the reader enough to start and regularly invite him or her to further explore the topic in very rich documentation that already comes with R and add-on packages. The book works as a map for navigating around main streets but an inquisitive reader can (and should) always make turns into smaller alleys to explore issues further.
The book is ready to be read from cover to cover or be a light reference for when you're starting out coding your analysis. The authors did a great job introducing topics that literally may take thousands of pages to explain in detail (e.g. advanced graphics, introductory statistics). From my experience with teaching R to scientists and students, it is that information overload which can be a problem. This book eases the reader into basic structures and slowly builds on them, giving time for that knowledge to settle.
Introduction to various popular packages is very useful and gives the reader a good starting ground to tackle data crunching on their own. Authors endorse various software and techniques, but do not hide the alternatives.
Executive summary
Pretty much all I'd hoped for -- and I had high hopes.
Significance
The "Dummies" series is popular for introducing specific topics in an inviting way. R For Dummies is a worthy addition to the pack.
There is a competitor by the name of Statistical Analysis with Excel For Dummies. Now this may also be well-executed -- it probably is -- but some of us are of the opinion that the last two words of the title are redundant.
There are millions of people doing data analysis in spreadsheets, even though spreadsheets are dangerous. R For Dummies gives these people a reasonable entrance into the world of R where their analyses will be safer, faster and deeper -- after an admittedly uncomfortable period of adjustment.
The world will be more productive on account of people switching from spreadsheets to R for data analysis. The problem is that hardly any spreadsheet users are aware that there is a more comfortable way of living than walking along a cliff edge. The cliff is invisible to them. Hopefully R For Dummies will help change that by making R a more obvious alternative.
Strengths
Chapter 19 is "Ten Things You Can Do in R That You Would've Done in Microsoft Excel". They resisted the subtitle "And by the way, generally much easier too".
Writing introductions to computer programs is astoundingly hard. A key problem is the curse of knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine not knowing. So a writer who knows the program is not good, but a writer who doesn't know the program is no use as a navigator. R For Dummies sails these stormy seas well, partly from the discipline of the "Dummies" template, partly from the skill of the authors.
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