[R] reducing learning curves?

[Gabor Csardi]

> > On 1/25/06, Michael <comtech.usa at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> >>Hi all,
> >>
> >>I am really new to the R language. I am a long time Matlab and C++ user
> >>and I was "forced" to learn R because I am taking a statistics class.
> >>
> >>I am seeking to reduce the learning curve to as smooth as possible.
> >>
> >>Are there any addon/plug-in features that can reduce the learning curve,
> >>for example, the following features can be very helpful for new learners:
> >>
> >>1. Matlab-like command line auto-completion: Matlab has huge amount of
> >>command and nobody is able to remember them off the head. So a nice feature

You can use command name auto-completion if you use emacs and the ess mode
for running R. (I don't whether this was mentioned earlier (not following
the thread closely), sorry if it was.)

> >>2. A good IDE editor with embedded inline debugger: can be as good as
> >>VC++, but also can be as simple as Matlab's debugger, which can breakpoint
> >>and trace line-by-line... the editor can do syntax correction, syntax check,
> >>syntax highlighting, code formatting, etc.

emacs and ess mode does that for you as well, i'm not sure about the
debugger, but syntax highlight and indentation work great. 

For debugging try ?debug. 

> >>Could you please recommend some good addon/plugins that have the above
> >>features?
> >>
> >>Could you please also suggest some tips/tools/tricks that can help me
> >>reduce the learning curve?

Reading 'An Introduction to R' helps a lot. Not about editors though,
and this is right i think. Personally i hate ide's with built in editors,
because you have to learn all of them, and they behave just a bit
differently to annoy you. Using a single editor for all your editing tasks
(writing mail, html, R, C++ and matlab code) on the other hand can greatly
increase productivity. Just my 2 cents.

Gabor

> >>Thank you very much!
> >>
> >>Michael.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > 
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> > 
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-- 
Csardi Gabor <csardi at rmki.kfki.hu>    MTA RMKI, ELTE TTK