I also put my 2cents on sqldf :-)

milton

On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 12:30 AM, Wensui Liu <liuwensui@gmail.com> wrote:

> take a look at sqldf package(http://code.google.com/p/sqldf/), you
> will be amazed.
>
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 12:22 AM, Farrel Buchinsky <fjbuch@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Is R an appropriate tool for data manipulation and data reshaping and
> data
> > organizing? I think so but someone who recently joined our group thinks
> not.
> > The new recruit believes that python or another language is a far better
> > tool for developing data manipulation scripts that can be then used by
> > several members of our research group. Her assessment is that R is useful
> > only when it comes to data analysis and working with statistical models.
> > So what do you think:
> > 1)R is a phenomenally powerful and flexible tool and since you are going
> to
> > do analyses in R you might as well use it to read data in and merge it
> and
> > reshape it to whatever you need.
> > OR
> > 2) Are you crazy? Nobody in their right mind uses R to pipe the data
> around
> > their lab and assemble it for analysis.
> >
> > Your insights would be appreciated.
> >
> > Details if you are interested:
> >
> > Our setup: Hundreds of patients recorded as cases with about 60
> variables.
> > Inputted and stored in a Sybase relational database. High throughput SNP
> > genotyping platforms saved data output to csv or excel tables.
> Previously,
> > not knowing any SQL I had used Microsoft Access to write queries to get
> the
> > data that I needed and to merge the genotyping with the clinical
> database.
> > It was horrible. I could not even use it on anything other than my
> desktop
> > machine at work. When I realized that I was going to need to learn R to
> > handle the genetic analyses I decided to keep Sybase as the data
> repository
> > for the clinical information and the do all the data manipulation,
> merging
> > and piping with R using RODBC. I was and am a very amateur coder.
> > Nevertheless, many many hours later I have scripts that did what I needed
> > them to do and I understand R code and can tinker with it as needed. My
> > scripts work for me but they are not exactly user-friendly for others in
> the
> > laboratory to just run. For instance, depending on what machine the
> script
> > is being run from, one may need to change the file name or file path and
> > tinker under the hood to accomplish that. My bias is to fulfill all our
> data
> > manipulation and reshaping with R. Since I am the principal investigator
> it
> > is me who stays constant and coders or analysts who may come and go.
> >
> > I am even more enamored with R for data manipulation since reading a book
> > about it.
> >
> >        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html<http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html>
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> >
>
>
>
> --
> ==============================
> WenSui Liu
> Acquisition Risk, Chase
> Blog   : statcompute.spaces.live.com
>
> Tough Times Never Last. But Tough People Do.  - Robert Schuller
> ==============================
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html<http://www.r-project.org/posting-guide.html>
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>

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