Introduction to Programming
- Programming makes our work faster, more reproducible, and more transparent.
- R is an object oriented programming language
- Document your code with comments
- A working directory is the active location on your computer where R can read and write files
R Fundamentals
- The Rstudio IDE gives you tools for programming
- Read in data with `read.csv()
- Data frames are the most common data type used in R
- Index with square bracket notation to access specific parts of a dataframe
- R has built in functions for many common calculations and operations
- Use plots to visualize data
- Install packages from CRAN with `install.packages()
Data Types and Structures
- while tibbles are important, users may come accross data that needs to be stored in different data types
Functions
- functions allow us to reuse code and make it more readable
- documenting functions using best practices helps us and others in the future
Making Choices
- we can compare stored values
- we can automate data production by setting up our choices in our R programs
Loops in R
- loops consume computer resources and should be used sparingly
- R has vectorized operations to make classical looping operations faster
Plotting
Dealing with Messy Data
- there are common issues a user can look for when working with new data
- making sure your data is clean before you start analysing will help make it easier
Best Practices for Writing R Code
- making your code readable allows for others to collaborate
Understanding Factors
- factors are what allow us to work with categorical data
Outputting Data
- Markdown as a method to publish results
- Basic dynamic visualizations with R can be combined with data notes in RMarkdown