[R] Wikis etc.

[Michael Dewey]

At 20:12 08/01/06, Jack Tanner wrote:
>Philippe's idea to start a wiki that grows out of the content on 
>http://zoonek2.free.fr/UNIX/48_R/all.html is really great. Here's why.
>
>My hypothesis is that the basic reason that people ask questions on R-help 
>rather than first looking elsewhere is that looking elsewhere doesn't get 
>them the info they need.
>
>People think in terms of the tasks they have to do. The documentation for 
>R, which can be very good, is organized in terms of the structure of R, 
>its functions. This mismatch -- people think of tasks, the documentation 
>"thinks in" functions -- causes people to turn to the mailing list.

Further to that I feel that (perhaps because they do not like to blow their 
own trumpet too much) the authors of books on R do not stress how much most 
questioners could gain by buying and reading at least one of the many books 
on R. When I started I found the free documents useful but I made most 
progress when I bought MASS. I do realise that liking books is a bit last 
millennium.




Michael Dewey
http://www.aghmed.fsnet.co.uk