[R] reducing learning curves?

[Petr Pikal]

Hi

On 26 Jan 2006 at 11:15, Philippe Grosjean wrote:

Date sent:      	Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:15:08 +0100
From:           	Philippe Grosjean <phgrosjean at sciviews.org>
Organization:   	SciViews & UMH - EcoNum
To:             	Michael <comtech.usa at gmail.com>
Copies to:      	R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject:        	Re: [R] reducing learning curves?

> Michael wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > Are there any R addon/pluggins with the following feature:
> > 
> > (1) command history? even stores the command history many days ago?
> > Like Matlab does?
> 
> See ?history, and also, menu entries File -> Load/Save history... in
> Rgui (you use R under windows, isn't it?). also, if you answer "Yes"
> at the question "Save workspace image?" when you quit R, the history
> of commands is saved and resored next time you start R from the same
> directory.

Beware that .Rhistory file has not unlimited number of commands, you 
can see only about 500 lines in default setting, however you can 
modify it.

> 
> > (2) online help? for example, as I see it, the Rcmdr is a good
> > companian for a newbie like me who just touched R for 1.5 days. I
> > can use Rcmdr to guide me to learn the commands to use for data
> > analysis. However, Rcmdr does not have online help reference for R
> > commands. For example, I saw the command "abline" and I want to know
> > how to use it, I have to copy/type it in R-console, and do "?abline"
> > things, so that I can obtain help. But this is troublesome, does any
> > editor offer online-help for commands, so I just need to hover my
> > mouse on "abline" and then press F1 key then a help window will open
> > automatically?

Beware of mouse elbow when perusing mouse too much.
If you want interactive help just open HTML help pages with your 
favourite browser.

Cheers
Petr

PS. It is good to have a copy of Paul Johnson's Rtips somewhere near 
when you start. Basic stuff and howtodo's is covered there.

> 
> Well, it is not much work to type
> 
>  > ?abline
> 
> However, if you want a button that you can click to do so, then look
> at http://www.sciviews.org/Tinn-R. That editor is definitely for you!
> Best,
> 
> Philippe Grosjean
> 
> > Thanks a lot!
> > 
> > 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 of Matlab command line is that I just need to type the
> >>first a few letters and then I press "TAB" key, there will be a list
> >>of possible commands popping up so I just need to select one. This
> >>helps a lot in terms of learning for new comers. A more advanced
> >>command auto-completion is Visual C++-like, which is implemented in
> >>program editor. It helps a lot while doing programming;
> >>
> >>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.
> >>
> >>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?
> >>
> >>Thank you very much!
> >>
> >>Michael.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > 
> > 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> > 
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> >
> 
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Petr Pikal
petr.pikal at precheza.cz