Evolving notes, images and sounds by Luis Apiolaza

Category: r (Page 8 of 20)

Learning to code in R

It used to be that the one of the first decisions to make when learning to program was between compiled (e.g. C or FORTRAN) and interpreted (e.g. Python) languages. In my opinion these days one would have to be a masochist to learn with a compiled language: the extra compilation time and obscure errors are a killer when learning.

Today the decision would be between using a generic interpreted language (e.g. Python) and an interpreted domain specific language (DSL) like R, MATLAB, etc. While some people prefer generic languages, I’d argue that immediate feedback and easy accomplishment of useful tasks are a great thing when one is learning something for the first time. Continue reading

Remembering server installation details

I’ve been moving part of my work to university servers, where I’m just one more peasant user with little privileges. In exchange, I can access the jobs from anywhere and I can access multiple processors if needed. Given that I have a sieve-like memory, where configuration details quickly disappear through many small holes, I’m documenting the little steps needed to move my work environment there.

The server provides a default R installation but none of the additional packages I often install are available (most people accessing the servers don’t use R). I could contact the administrator to get them installed, but I’ve opted for installing them under my user space. For that I followed the instructions presented here, which in summary require adding the name of the default folder (/hpc/home/luis/rpackages) for the local library of packages to my .bashrc file:
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My R year

End-of-year posts are corny but, what the heck, I think I can let myself delve in to corniness once a year. The following code gives a snapshot of what and how was R for me in 2012.
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R for inquisition

A post on high-dimensional arrays by @isomorphisms reminded me of APL and, more generally, of matrix languages, which took me back to inquisitive computing: computing not in the sense of software engineering, or databases, or formats, but of learning by poking problems through a computer.

I like languages not because I can get a job by using one, but because I can think thoughts and express ideas through them. The way we think about a problem is somehow molded by the tools we use, and if we have loops, loops we use or if we have a terse matrix notation (see my previous post on Matrix Algebra Useful for Statistics), we may use that.
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