[R] How long does it take to learn the R programming language?

Thu Sep 29 19:04:13 CEST 2022

Has anyone noticed something a tad unusual?

Someone shows up and seemingly politely asks a totally open-ended question and supplies NO DETTAILS about their personal status and experience that would be needed to tell hem whether it would take various amounts of time for him to learn enough R for whatever purposes.

Lots of people jump in and discuss it, and I choose this time to sit and wait and not point out the endless considerations others have nicely contributed.

What is missing is not a single polite reply from the original person acknowledging these efforts on his behalf, let alone ANSWERING some of the questions like whether he already has some experience with programming or what he wants to use R for.

As such, I am suspicious and won’t get involved with this and suggest others reconsider the need to keep discussing the topic unless it is for their own interest.

I have seen this many times now on multiple such boards. Either some people do not understand what is expected, or someone is trolling and just looking to get a reaction.

I prefer to deal with more focused questions if someone is asking for help such as what package might help them do a somewhat specific task or why they are getting an error message. A general question like whether R or Python or something else is better for a particular task might also be reasonable. But how long it takes to learn ANYTHING seems to be a very subjective question, let alone something as multi-faceted as a programming language that can be used for so many different things.

Just my two cents.

I will say it did not take me long to learn a decent amount of R and yet I keep learning and am very far from knowing a fraction of all there is to know and especially not things I have had no reason to know yet.

From: jim holtman <jholtman using gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2022 12:28 PM
To: Ebert,Timothy Aaron <tebert using ufl.edu>
Cc: Avi Gross <avi.e.gross using gmail.com>; John Kane <jrkrideau using gmail.com>; R. Mailing List <r-help using r-project.org>
Subject: Re: [R] How long does it take to learn the R programming language?

Still at it after 38 years.  First came across S at Bell Labs in 1984.

Thanks

Jim Holtman
Data Munger Guru

What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
Tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it.

On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 7:09 AM Ebert,Timothy Aaron <tebert using ufl.edu <mailto:tebert using ufl.edu> > wrote:

Learning R takes an hour. Find an hourglass, flip it over. Meanwhile we will start increasing the size of the upper chamber and adding more sand. 

Mastery of R is an asymptotic function of time. 

While such answers might indicate trying for mastery is futile, you can learn enough R to be very useful long before "mastery."

Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: R-help <r-help-bounces using r-project.org <mailto:r-help-bounces using r-project.org> > On Behalf Of Avi Gross
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2022 5:51 PM
To: John Kane <jrkrideau using gmail.com <mailto:jrkrideau using gmail.com> >
Cc: R. Mailing List <r-help using r-project.org <mailto:r-help using r-project.org> >
Subject: Re: [R] How long does it take to learn the R programming language?

[External Email]

So is the proper R answer simply Inf?

On Wed, Sep 28, 2022, 5:39 PM John Kane <jrkrideau using gmail.com <mailto:jrkrideau using gmail.com> > wrote:

> + 1
>
> On Wed, 28 Sept 2022 at 17:36, Jim Lemon <drjimlemon using gmail.com <mailto:drjimlemon using gmail.com> > wrote:
>
> > Given some of the questions that are posted to this list, I am not 
> > sure that there is an upper bound to the estimate.
> >
> > Jim
> >
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>
> --
> John Kane
> Kingston ON Canada
>
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