[R] can't understand "R"

[eric.rhelp@kostello.net]

Krause and Olson's "The Basics of S-PLUS" offers a very, very gentle
introduction to S-PLUS and R. (How gentle? It even explains how to
use a mouse!) It does not attempt to teach statistics or data analysis,
although the reader will certainly learn something by being exposed
to well-designed examples. "The Basics" teaches by example and
then explains more abstract aspects of what you have done. Because 
the step-by-step instructions are very clear, this works well.

I would not teach an S-PLUS or R based data analytic class without
at least placing it on the recommended reading list. I believe it
takes the place of nearly all material typically place on "tip
sheets." Nevertheless, it gets all the way through to writing simple
scripts and programs.

For a reader already familiar with script-based analysis in either
R or S-PLUS this book will not offer much value. For the reader
who needs to move beyond "point-and-click" into more solid data
analytic skills, I strongly recommend it.

Disclaimer: this is based on my review of the second edition, so
updates or corrections for the third edition may be in order.

Eric Kostello 

On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 23:10:59 -0500, "Erin L. Leisz"
<eleisz at Macalester.edu> said:
> hi.  i really need help using this program.  computer language is a
> foreign 
> language to me, and thus, i cannot make heads nor tails of the user
> manuals 
> from the website.  i need to locate step-by-step examples of simple 
> problems such as "graph f(x)+g(x) and f(g(x)) for the domain 0<x<2" and 
> "graph 2H(x), H(x)+1, H(x+1)"  i do know how to define the functions, but 
> that's it.  is there any help you could provide me?  i would appreciate 
> some help asap.  thank you very much
> erin leisz