New Member from OKC

[YukonGlocker]

Yeah I figured R was one that I needed to be more fluent in. I still have a few years to go before graduating, but I'm planning to do the UCO masters when I finish my last few math requirements at OSU and it does not have any programming requirements.

I do recommend picking up some coding along the way...it'll not only make most of what you do easier, it'll make you more competitive in the job market.

 

[ShaunyP26]

I do recommend picking up some coding along the way...it'll not only make most of what you do easier, it'll make you more competitive in the job market.

Perfect. Thanks again for the pointers.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Perfect. Thanks again for the pointers.

In case you want to try something like R:

I've been using R since 2010, but use other softwares as well. I also teach stats using R and other softwares. How you learn it will partly (largely) depend on who you're learning from.

Some people recommend not using any type of GUI (e.g., http://www.rcommander.com/) for learning, but instead recommend doing everything in the terminal first. I don't totally agree with that. But one thing I strongly recommend (even for starting out) is https://www.rstudio.com/ ...where you have the terminal in addition to many handy helpers.

As for resources, most published books on R are a waste of time and money because everything you need is available online (and more frequently updated). One handy (and good) site with simple code for basic and some advanced material is http://www.statmethods.net/. The following site has more explanation and more about general programming (but still mostly focused on stats): http://swcarpentry.github.io/r-novice-gapminder/.

Also, the pdf documents that accompany R packages are often *very* valuable. Many people that have created packages for R include so much good information in those PDFs. Here's an example, but most all the R packages have these: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/psych/psych.pdf.

If a more structured course fits you best, there are some great ones in places like https://www.coursera.org/ (many of them for free).

Holler if you have any questions!

 

[ShaunyP26]

In case you want to try something like R:

I've been using R since 2010, but use other softwares as well. I also teach stats using R and other softwares. How you learn it will partly (largely) depend on who you're learning from.

Some people recommend not using any type of GUI (e.g., http://www.rcommander.com/) for learning, but instead recommend doing everything in the terminal first. I don't totally agree with that. But one thing I strongly recommend (even for starting out) is https://www.rstudio.com/ ...where you have the terminal in addition to many handy helpers.

As for resources, most published books on R are a waste of time and money because everything you need is available online (and more frequently updated). One handy (and good) site with simple code for basic and some advanced material is http://www.statmethods.net/. The following site has more explanation and more about general programming (but still mostly focused on stats): http://swcarpentry.github.io/r-novice-gapminder/.

Also, the pdf documents that accompany R packages are often *very* valuable. Many people that have created packages for R include so much good information in those PDFs. Here's an example, but most all the R packages have these: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/psych/psych.pdf.

If a more structured course fits you best, there are some great ones in places like https://www.coursera.org/ (many of them for free).

Holler if you have any questions!

Thank you very much. I did take the Python for Everybody specialization in Coursera, but had to quit halfway through as I got busy with other things. I've always planned to go back to it. You'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many Math professors I've talked to who know nothing about R or can make any type of programming recommendations.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Thank you very much. I did take the Python for Everybody specialization in Coursera, but had to quit halfway through as I got busy with other things. I've always planned to go back to it. You'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many Math professors I've talked to who know nothing about R or can make any type of programming recommendations.

lol...hell, if nothing else, the R terminal works as a great calculator (seriously!)

 

[ShaunyP26]

lol...hell, if nothing else, the R terminal works as a great calculator (seriously!)

Lol. That's kind of what I did with Python terminal too and really all I remember.

 

[ragsflh]

howdy