Al.I.

Cuza University of Iași

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Department of Accounting, Information Systems and Statistics

Data
Processing/Analysis/Science
with R
(A Brief ) Introduction to R

By Marin Fotache
 What is R ?
An open-source and free language and platform for:
◦ data gathering (from a wide variety of sources)
◦ data processing
◦ data exploration (data visualisation and data analysis)
◦ data mining / machine learning / deep learning
At its inception, R was targeted specifically for
statistical computing (it derives from S programming
language)
Now it incorporates options for tasks varying from
data processing to software development; still, it is not
considered a full-fledged programming language (like
Python, for example)
 Why R ? (Kabacoff, 2011)
R is free! (SPSS, SAS, etc. cost thousands or tens of thousands of
dollars)
 R is a comprehensive statistical platform, offering all manner of
data analytic techniques
 R has state-of-the-art graphics capabilities
 R is a powerful platform for interactive data analysis and
exploration
 R can easily import data from a wide variety of sources, including
text files, database management systems, statistical packages, and
specialized data repositories. It can write data out to these systems
as well
 R provides an unparalleled platform for programming new
statistical methods in an easy and straightforward manner. It’s easily
extensible and provides a natural language for quickly
programming recently published methods
 Why R ? (cont.)
R contains advanced statistical routines not yet
available in other packages. In fact, new methods
become available for download on a weekly basis
R has an (over) enthusiastic community of users
and developers
A variety of graphic user interfaces (GUIs) are
available, offering the power of R through menus
and dialogs.
R runs on a wide array of platforms, including
Windows, Unix, and Mac OS X
R main limitations (Fotache & Strimbei,
2013)
User interface:
◦ R was initially based on the command prompt and scripts
◦ SPSS and Excel users find the transition to R interface (GUI) difficult
◦ IDEs like RStudio have hugely improved the productivicy and R acceptance
A tidal wave of packages
◦ Deciding which function/package to use is not always an easy task
◦ Some of the packages are poorly maintained (unavailable in recent R versions)
◦ New packages require constant scanning of R literature/blogosphere
Data sourcing (not particular to R)
◦ In many cases ETL mechanisms are needed for gathering data from web logs,
sensors, mobile applications, Excel files, etc.
◦ Various packages have been developed in this respect
◦ Recent APIs, web services are beneficial
Functional programming (not only in R) requires some time to master
 References/resources on R
R Studion Education (Beginners)
https://education.rstudio.com/learn/beginner/
R resources (free courses, books, tutorials, & cheat
sheets – updated regularly)
https://paulvanderlaken.com/2017/08/10/r-resources-c
heatsheets-tutorials-books/
New to R? Kickstart your learning and career with
these 6 steps!
https://paulvanderlaken.com/2017/10/18/learn-r/
R Tutorials and Courses
 References/resources on R (cont.)
CRAN - the main R site: http://cran.r-project.org
Books/e-Books which can be bought from:
◦ Amazon (unfortunately, sometimes statistical formula are poorly
displayed on Kindle format)
◦ Publishers (Manning, Packt, …): PDF format widely provided -
excellent to read/display/code copy
Freee-Books (see next slides) and PDF tutorials available
on web
Presentations posted on Slideshare, universities or courses
pages
Video-tutorials (mostly on YouTube) (2016)
http://flavioazevedo.com/stats-and-r-blog/2016/9/13/learnin
 References/resources on R (cont.)
Journals:

◦ Journal of Statistical Software: http://www.jstatsoft.org/

◦ The R Journal: http://journal.r-project.org/
◦ Journal of Statistics Education (not targeted only to R, but
generally to Statistics): http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/
Stack Overflow R section - A question-and-answer site:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/r
R news and tutorials contributed by (552) R bloggers:
http://www.r-bloggers.com/
Other R communities, blogs, academic courses, etc.
Video-tutorials on R/RStudio installation
InstallingR and RStudio on Windows 10 (2020-3:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLWaED9jTiA

How to install Rstudio on Windows 10 (2019-2min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jo9lJFOf9E

How to install R and install R Studio. How to use R studio | R

programming for beginners (2019 – 7:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orjLGFmx6l4

How to Download and Install R and R Studio (Best Version -

2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by5HyJX6H1I
 Video-tutorials on R/RStudio basics
RStudio Overview - 1:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=23&v
=n3uue28FD0w
RStudio Introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPk6-3prknk
Getting staRted with R: An accelerated primer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V23ZQQfwYk
slides: http://prezi.com/3xf8xqzvpuyz
/getting-started-with-r-an-accelerated-primer/
Statistics with R: Using R and RStudio, Lesson 2 by
Courtney Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A-Y802Yink
Video-tutorials on R/RStudio basics (cont.)
Chester Ismay and Albert Y. Kim - An Introduction to Statistical and
Data Sciences via R (2018) – Section 2 Getting Started with Data in
R
https://moderndive.com/2-getting-started.html
Setting Your Working Directory and Editing R Code (Mac)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xT3hmJQskU&index=2&list=
PLjTlxb-wKvXNSDfcKPFH2gzHGyjpeCZmJ
Setting Your Working Directory and Editing R Code (Windows)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBcvH1BpIBo&list=PLjTlxb-w
KvXNSDfcKPFH2gzHGyjpeCZmJ&index=3
How to Get Help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFaWxxzouCY&index=4&list=P
LjTlxb-wKvXNSDfcKPFH2gzHGyjpeCZmJ
 Web sites with R tutorials/documentation
R Studion Education (Beginners)
https://education.rstudio.com/learn/beginner/
rOpenSci Educators Collaborative: What Educational Resources Work Well and Why?
https://ropensci.org/blog/2018/07/25/educollab-resources/
W. N. Venables, D. M. Smith and the R Core Team - An Introduction to R. Notes on R:
A Programming Environment for Data Analysis and Graphics, http://
cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-intro.pdf
Introducing R
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/r/seminars/intro.htm
R Introduction
http://www.r-tutor.com/r-introduction
Quick R
http://www.statmethods.net/
Professor Courtney Brown's YouTube Video Classes
http://www.courtneybrown.com/classes/video_classes_Courtney_Brown.html
 Web sites with R tutorials/documentation
(cont.)
Advanced R by Hadley Wickham
http://adv-r.had.co.nz/
how to do stuff in r. two minutes or less
http://www.twotorials.com
Introducing R
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/r/seminars/intro.htm
R script associated with this presentation

 https://github.com/marinfotache
/Data-Processing-Analysis-Science-with-R/blob/master/01%2
0R_Introduction_Data%20Structures/01a_R_Introduction.R