[R] reducing learning curves?

Philippe Grosjean
Wed, 25 Jan 2006 16:22:22 -0000

Hello,
If you work under Windows, you can find a lot of useful tools in
SciViews-R (http://www.sciviews.org/SciViews-R) and Tinn-R
(http://www.sciviews.org/Tinn-R). For instance, you have:
- syntax coloring,
- code completion,
- calltips (tips displaying the syntax of a function as you type it),
- object explorer with lots of useful shortcuts in the object's context
menu,
- electronic reference cards,
- viewing and reproting features,
- etc...

For a nice, graphical, debugger, look at debug package (you have to
install it from CRAN and load it using:
 > library(debug)
Then, try:
 > ?mtrace

Best,

Philippe Grosjean

Michael wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am really new to the R language. I am a long time Matlab and C++ user and
> I was "forced" to learn R because I am taking a statistics class.
>
> I am seeking to reduce the learning curve to as smooth as possible.
>
> Are there any addon/plug-in features that can reduce the learning curve,
for
> example, the following features can be very helpful for new learners:
>
> 1. Matlab-like command line auto-completion: Matlab has huge amount of
> command and nobody is able to remember them off the head. So a nice feature
> of Matlab command line is that I just need to type the first a few letters
> and then I press "TAB" key, there will be a list of possible
commands
> popping up so I just need to select one. This helps a lot in terms of
> learning for new comers. A more advanced command auto-completion is Visual
> C++-like, which is implemented in program editor. It helps a lot while
doing
> programming;
>
> 2. A good IDE editor with embedded inline debugger: can be as good as VC++,
> but also can be as simple as Matlab's debugger, which can breakpoint
and
> trace line-by-line... the editor can do syntax correction, syntax check,
> syntax highlighting, code formatting, etc.
>
> Could you please recommend some good addon/plugins that have the above
> features?
>
> Could you please also suggest some tips/tools/tricks that can help me
reduce
> the learning curve?
>
> Thank you very much!
>
> Michael.
>
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>
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