Hi, A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"... Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is please? For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number of arguments - where should I start to look? "An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to where to find further data. I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the function name is that I am looking for!!! People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT how could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble? Any help on this very much appreciated. -- View this message in context: http://n4.nabble.com/Help-on-getting-help-from-manuals-tp1590323p1590323.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
ManInMoon wrote:> Hi, > > A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"... > > Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is please?In R, type help.start () this should open a browser window with links to - the packages - the manuals - a search engine Please note: this is written in section 1.7 "Getting help with functions and features" of Introduction to R In the same section, you learn about help.search Note also: ? help leads you to the man page describing the help system. In section "see also" you find a list of other useful commands to find help If you look them up and look a again what alternatives they suggest and actually try them out (again with topic "help") you will come across all informations about finding help on R topics that is written in this email. - There also exists apropos (). - In addition, e.g. reading this mailing list, you learn about the sos package. - You can also use the internet resources: on r-project.org -> manuals - I personally use a lot: http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/namazu.cgi (which is where RSiteSearch () gets you). You can nicely decide where to search: documentation of R and CRAN packages, and/or the mailing list archives. Homework try out & read the results of: RSiteSearch ("help")> > For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number of > arguments - where should I start to look? > > "An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to where > to find further data. > > I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the > function name is that I am looking for!!!Then do ??xxx or ???xxx (needs sos) or RSiteSearch ("xxx") or apropos ("xxx") ... which you could have found out by reading ? help> > People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT how > could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble? > > Any help on this very much appreciated.Sometimes it _is_ difficult to find the correct search terms. However, I think that people in this list will appreciate if you - show that you did search before asking, and also tell then with which terms you did the search - particularly for questions about the meaning of commands: Try them out! Put the command into pieces and look what each piece does - people will appreciate if you ask what the correct search terms are for your problem (as opposed to ask them doing your "homework") Learning R is learning a language. Including vocabulary (i.e. terms for the different concepts). Asking for help with searching is like asking "How do you say in R for concept xyz?" instead of "Could anyone do the translation I got as homework?" HTH, Claudia -- Claudia Beleites Dipartimento dei Materiali e delle Risorse Naturali Universit? degli Studi di Trieste Via Alfonso Valerio 6/a I-34127 Trieste phone: +39 0 40 5 58-37 68 email: cbeleites at units.it
As has been pointed out, there are tools in R to help find the commands
you are looking for.
As a practical note, I recommend starting with '?' if you think you know
what command you need.
If you're unsure of what command you need, my next step would be
help.search(). Often, the results from here will point you to a command
that you are looking for.
If a handful of tries with help.search() doesn't get you what you need,
then try RSiteSearch(). This will search the mailing list for entries
relevant to your search criteria. Often times, you'll find that someone
has already asked your question. In fact, I can only recall a couple of
times where a search of the mailing list has failed to provide a
solution for me.
Aside from reading lots of documentation, the one thing that has helped
me the most in picking up R has been reading Peter Dalgaard's
"Introductory Statistics with R." It's a very small, basic
introduction
to R, but laid a solid enough foundation that I soon found myself able
to produce and refine my own solutions.
In short, the best way to improve our knowledge of R is lots of reading
and a bit of trial and error.
Benjamin
-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
On Behalf Of ManInMoon
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 4:41 AM
To: r-help at r-project.org
Subject: [R] Help on getting help from manuals
Hi,
A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"...
Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is
please?
For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number
of arguments - where should I start to look?
"An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to
where to find further data.
I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the
function name is that I am looking for!!!
People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT
how could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble?
Any help on this very much appreciated.
--
View this message in context:
http://n4.nabble.com/Help-on-getting-help-from-manuals-tp1590323p1590323
.html
Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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A new resource along these lines is: "Some hints for the R beginner" http://www.burns-stat.com/pages/Tutor/hints_R_begin.html If you have ideas on how to improve on it, please let me know. Pat On 12/03/2010 09:41, ManInMoon wrote:> > Hi, > > A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"... > > Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is please? > > For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number of > arguments - where should I start to look? > > "An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to where > to find further data. > > I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the > function name is that I am looking for!!! > > People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT how > could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble? > > Any help on this very much appreciated. > >-- Patrick Burns pburns at pburns.seanet.com http://www.burns-stat.com (home of 'Some hints for the R beginner' and 'The R Inferno')
For programming you should start with "Writing R Extensions" (just scan the sections that don't apply to you yet). I would also recommend "S poetry" by Patrick Burns (http://www.burns-stat.com/) and "S Programming" by Venables and Ripley. -- Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D. Statistical Data Center Intermountain Healthcare greg.snow at imail.org 801.408.8111> -----Original Message----- > From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r- > project.org] On Behalf Of ManInMoon > Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 2:41 AM > To: r-help at r-project.org > Subject: [R] Help on getting help from manuals > > > Hi, > > A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"... > > Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is > please? > > For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number > of > arguments - where should I start to look? > > "An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to > where > to find further data. > > I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the > function name is that I am looking for!!! > > People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT > how > could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble? > > Any help on this very much appreciated. > > > -- > View this message in context: http://n4.nabble.com/Help-on-getting- > help-from-manuals-tp1590323p1590323.html > Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > ______________________________________________ > 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.
On 03/12/2010 08:41 PM, ManInMoon wrote:> > Hi, > > A number of people have suggested "I read the manuals"... > > Could someone help me by telling me where the primary start point is please? > > For example, I am interested in writing functions with variable number of > arguments - where should I start to look? > > "An introduction to R" only show a brief example - with no pointer to where > to find further data. > > I can't do ?xxx from R console in most cases - as I don't know what the > function name is that I am looking for!!! > > People have helped me find "substitute" to get some metadata out - BUT how > could I have found that without guidance from nice people in Nabble? > > Any help on this very much appreciated. > >Hi ManInMoon, The terminology problem is a big one for many people. Many of us muddle along for years with the idea that the numbers in parentheses or square brackets or whatever after the variable name are "indices". We start using R and have to learn about the "extraction operator". Then we find out that there is more than one sort of extraction operator. Then we find out that these operators allow absolutely forbidden things like negative values. Sometimes. The terminology problem can often be solved on Jon Baron's search engine, as it searches full text, not just keywords. Run a few of the terms familiar to you into it, and you will find that the most amazing things appear. Jim