[R] Research Notes

[Richard.Cotton at hsl.gov.uk]

> What has become more and more obvious to me after I started using R 
> about two years ago is that I have collected a large number of data 
> files, scripts, and workspaces (.Rdata files) in several catalogs on my 
> computer.  It is also obvious that my memory is not up to the task of 
> keeping track of everything.  Of course, this is not simply an R thing, 
> it also applies to other kinds of documents of various kinds.
> 
> Perhaps what is needed is some type of computerized "Research notebook", 

> and I wonder if any of the readers of list have had this problem and 
> have a suggestion in respect to a solution.  Two possibilities I have 
> been sniffing at is "Instant Recall" (USD 99) and "AskSam" (much more). 
>   Which others may be useful?

Other types of software you could try using are a desktop searcher (I like 
Copernic; Wikipedia has a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines#Desktop_search_engines
) to find files on obscure bits of hard drive, and source control software 
(probably some variant of CVS or Subversion).  The source control 
software, as well as helping multiple people code together, is great for 
forcing you to organise project files into a sensible hierarchy, and has 
the added benefit that when you misplace the entire project, you can 
always download another copy from the repository.

Regards,
Richie.

Mathematical Sciences Unit
HSL


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