[R] two questions for R beginners

[Paul Hiemstra]

Ivan Calandra wrote:
> Since you want input from beginners, here are some thoughts
>
> I had and still have two big problems with R:
> - this vectorization thing. I've read many manuals (including R 
> inferno), but I'm still not completely clear about it. In simple 
> examples, it's fine. But when it gets a bit more complex, then...
> Related to it, the *apply functions are still a bit difficult to 
> understand. When I have to use them, I just try one and see what 
> happens. I don't understand them well enough to know which one I need.
> - the second problem is where to find the functions/packages I need. 
> There are many options, and that's actually the problem. R Wiki, 
> Rseek, RSiteSearch, Crantastic, etc... When you start with R, you 
> discover that the capabilities of R are almost unlimited and you don't 
> really know where to start, where to find what you need.
>
> As noted in earlier posts, the mailing list is really great, but some 
> people are really hard with beginners. It was noted in a discussion a 
> few days ago, but it looks like some don't realize how difficult it is 
> at the beginning to formulate a good question, clear, with 
> self-contained example and so on. Moreover, not everybody speaks 
> English natively. I don't mean that you must help, even when the 
> question is really vague and not clear and whatever. I'm just saying 
> that if you don't want to help (whatever the reason), you don't have 
> to say it badly. But in any cases, the mailing list is still really 
> helpful. As someone noted (sorry I erased the email so I don't 
> remember who), it might be a good idea to split it.
Hi everyone,

My 2ct about the mailing list :). I understand that beginners have a 
hard time formulating a good question. But the problem is that we can't 
answer the question when it is unclear. So either I:

- Don't bother answering
- Try do discuss with the author of the question, taking lots of time to 
find out what exactly is the question.
- Send a "read the posting guide" answer

I mostly do the first, as I have to get things done during my PhD :). So 
this leaves us with kind of a problem, the person mailing the list 
doesn't have the knowledge to ask the right question, the list can't 
answer properly and consequently, the person mailing the list still 
doesn't get the information he/she needs. We could start an R-beginner 
mailing list, but this would also suffer from this problem. What do you 
guys think?

Maybe the mailing list is not the right medium for really basic stuff. 
For that I would recommend a good R-book or (better) a course in R or 
(even better) some colleagues who work with R that you can ask questions to.

cheers,
Paul
>
> Hope that's what you wanted
> Ivan
>
>
> Le 2/26/2010 08:39, Dieter Menne a écrit :
>>
>> Patrick Burns wrote:
>>   
>>> * What were your biggest misconceptions or
>>> stumbling blocks to getting up and running
>>> with R?
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>> (This derives partly from teaching)
>>
>> The fact that this xapply-stuff was not idempotent (worse: not 
>> always) and
>> that you need a monster like do.call() to straighten this out. Nowadays,
>> plyr comes close.
>>
>> The concept of environment. With S it was worse, though.
>>
>> That you cannot change values "passed by reference". I noted that the 
>> latter
>> is no problem for students who have not worked with c(++/#) before. That
>> there is only one return-result in functions.
>>
>> "[" and the likes as an operator.
>>
>> 10 years ago, when I started, the message was: S4 is the future, S3 is
>> legacy. So I learned S4. Only to never use is in self-written code 
>> later.
>> Might be different for BioConductor people.
>>
>> That sometimes you can use vectors not in data= (lattice), and 
>> sometimes not
>> (ggplot2). Still a VERY confusing inconsistency.
>>
>> The "why-does-this-not-print" FAQ.
>>
>> Why does par(oma..) not work with lattice?
>>
>> Dieter
>>
>>
>>
>
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-- 
Drs. Paul Hiemstra
Department of Physical Geography
Faculty of Geosciences
University of Utrecht
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