Learn R: As a Language

Learning R can be fun, frustrating, or boring, but it requires challenges that wake up the learner's curiosity and provide an emotional reward for overcoming them. The book is designed to include smaller and bigger challenges, in what I call playgrounds, in the hope that all readers will enjoy their path to R fluency. The approach is similar to that of a travel guide, encouraging exploration and describing the available alternatives and how to reach them. The second edition has been expanded by more than 25% to include additional R features and gentler and more detailed explanations, contains 24 new diagrams and flowcharts, seven new tables, and revised text and code examples for clarity, and all three indexes were expanded. It emphasizes the role of abstractions in programming, presents the R language emphasizing the "R way of doing things", tutoring for "programming in the small" using scripts for data analysis, explanation of the differences between R proper and extensions for data wrangling, the grammar of graphics as a language for the construction of data visualisations, and examples of data exchange between R and the foreign world using common file formats. Coaching is provided to become an independent R user, capable of writing original scripts and solving future challenges.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 26 April 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Learning a computer language like R can be a challenging and rewarding experience. It requires challenges that stimulate the learner's curiosity and provide an emotional reward for overcoming them. The book is designed to include smaller and bigger challenges, known as playgrounds, to ensure that all readers enjoy their path to R fluency. Fluency in the use of a language is acquired through practice and exploration, and recognizing the parallels between R and natural languages can help students and professionals in the biological sciences, humanities, and many applied fields feel at home with R. The approach used in this book is similar to that of a travel guide, encouraging exploration and describing the available alternatives and how to reach them. The intention is to guide the reader through the R landscape of 2024 and beyond.

What is new in the second edition?

The second edition of this book has been expanded by more than 25% to include additional R features and gentler and more detailed explanations. It contains 24 new diagrams and flowcharts, seven new tables, and revised text and code examples for clarity. All three indexes were expanded, and answers to 28 frequently asked questions were added.

What will you find in this book?

Programming concepts explained as they apply to current R

Emphasis on the role of abstractions in programming

Few prescriptive rules—mostly the authors' preferences together with alternatives

Presentation of the R language emphasizing the "R way of doing things"

Tutoring for "programming in the small" using scripts for data analysis

Explanation of the differences between R proper and extensions for data wrangling

The grammar of graphics is described as a language for the construction of data visualisations

Examples of data excha.

Weight: 922g
Dimension: 174 x 252 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032516998
Edition number: 2 ed