Dear Listers, I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am mainly using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to R by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. But by and by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am afraid that I would totally forget how to program in R. I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any idea how I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I really appreciate it. [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
Hi Wensui, I do think you need to do something with R. Any language will be forgotten if you don't use it for a long time - at least that's true for me. For example, if you have enough time, why not write a book named "R for SAS users" or something like that? (although there's an English book 'R for SAS and SPSS Users', you may still write a Chinese one from your own experience) Regards, Yihui -- Yihui Xie <xieyihui at gmail.com> Phone: +86-(0)10-82509086 Fax: +86-(0)10-82509086 Mobile: +86-15810805877 Homepage: http://www.yihui.name School of Statistics, Room 1037, Mingde Main Building, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Wensui Liu <liuwensui at gmail.com> wrote:> Dear Listers, > > I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the > industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am mainly > using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to R > by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. But by and > by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am afraid that > I would totally forget how to program in R. > > I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any idea how > I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I really > appreciate it. >
On 19/09/2008, at 5:01 PM, Wensui Liu wrote:> Dear Listers, > > I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the > industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and > am mainly > using SAS.My most extreme sympathies and condolences!> However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to RYou have to *force* yourself???> by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. > But by and > by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am > afraid that > I would totally forget how to program in R. > > I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any > idea how > I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? > I really > appreciate it.To me, using R is like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you never forget! Actually that comparison is inappropriate in my case; such are my bicycling skills that I am much more likely to forget how to ride a bicycle than I am to forget how to use R. Of course one forgets *details*. But those are just details. And help.search() + RSiteSearch() will almost always recover those details for you. If they don't, just ask R-help(), perhaps after putting on your asbestos suit. cheers, Rolf Turner ###################################################################### Attention:\ This e-mail message is privileged and confid...{{dropped:9}}
Hi Wensei. Why not do as I do? Find an interesting area of numerical computation (perhaps not statistical) that has not been implemented in open-source. Then write an R package for it, under GPL-2, then write an article about the new package in R-news or JSS. works for me. Best wishes Robin Wensui Liu wrote:> Dear Listers, > > I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the > industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am mainly > using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to R > by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. But by and > by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am afraid that > I would totally forget how to program in R. > > I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any idea how > I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I really > appreciate it. > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help at r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >-- Robin K. S. Hankin Senior Research Associate Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR) Faculty of Economics The University of Cambridge rksh1 at cam.ac.uk 01223-764877
2008/9/19 Wensui Liu <liuwensui at gmail.com>:> Dear Listers, > > I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the > industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am mainly > using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to R > by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. But by and > by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am afraid that > I would totally forget how to program in R. > > I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any idea how > I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I really > appreciate it. >How about doing some kind of presentation on R at your work? It's possible that some of the old fossils don't even know about it at all, and use SAS because to them the alternative is SPSS. Do some R evangelization. Find a task that R does better than SAS (not difficult) and illustrate that to your superiors. Then when they ask how much a corporate R license is, you tell them it's free, or say it'll cost them a 2% raise in your salary, or say it will cost them your resignation if you are feeling brave! Sure you may be tied to SAS for some other reasons, but there's no reason why you can't use R for other things. Work out how to get it into your corporate framework. Encourage your colleagues to look at it for their tasks. Enthuse. The good thing about training and evangelization is that at first you don't need mad skillz at R to do it. I have trouble understanding some of the tips on R-help (especially when do.call() is used), but you can teach new people with a good knowledge of the basics, which you should still have. Eventually the hope is that enough people use R at your workplace to develop a community where everyone keeps everyone else on their toes with R questions! Good luck! Barry
> The good thing about training and evangelization ...I spent quite a lot of time evangelizing about R when I first started my current job. Eventually my boss told me I was an "R-Soul", or something that sounded like that anyway. ; ) Regards, Richie. Mathematical Sciences Unit HSL ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ATTENTION: This message contains privileged and confidential inform...{{dropped:20}}
One thing that R does very well that SAS does not is graphics - graphical portrayal of data is important, and you can keep up with R by supplementing your SAS analyses with R graphics. Steve McKinney -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org on behalf of Barry Rowlingson Sent: Fri 9/19/2008 12:36 AM To: Wensui Liu Cc: r-help Subject: Re: [R] how to keep up with R? 2008/9/19 Wensui Liu <liuwensui at gmail.com>:> Dear Listers, > > I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the > industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am mainly > using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay close to R > by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. But by and > by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am afraid that > I would totally forget how to program in R. > > I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any idea how > I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I really > appreciate it. >How about doing some kind of presentation on R at your work? It's possible that some of the old fossils don't even know about it at all, and use SAS because to them the alternative is SPSS. Do some R evangelization. Find a task that R does better than SAS (not difficult) and illustrate that to your superiors. Then when they ask how much a corporate R license is, you tell them it's free, or say it'll cost them a 2% raise in your salary, or say it will cost them your resignation if you are feeling brave! Sure you may be tied to SAS for some other reasons, but there's no reason why you can't use R for other things. Work out how to get it into your corporate framework. Encourage your colleagues to look at it for their tasks. Enthuse. The good thing about training and evangelization is that at first you don't need mad skillz at R to do it. I have trouble understanding some of the tips on R-help (especially when do.call() is used), but you can teach new people with a good knowledge of the basics, which you should still have. Eventually the hope is that enough people use R at your workplace to develop a community where everyone keeps everyone else on their toes with R questions! Good luck! Barry ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.