Overview

This module reviews the basics of the R programming language and its open-source development environment, RStudio. It reviews the basic operations involved in accessing the R platform and bringing the contents of a standard data file into the programming environment.

Topics

• Using R & RStudio
• Starting a Session
• Working with Objects
• Working with Scripts
• Importing & Exporting Data and Objects
• Working with Packages
• Working with Environments

Operations & Packages

• Defining and Removing Objects: <-, c(), rm()
• Identifying Data Types: typeof()
• Working with Memory: ls(), gc()
• Working Directories: setwd()
• Importing Data: read.csv(), readRDS(), foreign, readxl
• Subsetting: $, [x], subset()
• Working with Packages: install.packages(), library()
• Creating Popup Windows for File Selection: file.choose()
• Executing Scripts: source()
• Basic Variable Summaries: summary()
• Exporting Data & Objects: write.csv(), saveRDS()
• Calling Python: reticulate
• Attaching and Detaching Objects to Memory: attach(), detach()

Readings

• The Big Book of R
• Joseph Cohen (2020) “Getting Started” Class Notes.
• Joseph Adler (2009) R in a Nutshell. O’Reilly
• Paul Teetor (2011) R Cookbook. O’Reilly
• Richard Cotton (2013) Learning R. O’Reilly
• RStudio Hotkeys
• Playing with Pipe Notation
• Calling Python from R
• Statistical Software from a Blind Person’s Perspective
• Version Control with Git and SVN
• Using Github