Re: [R] Fortune candidate! Re: new to R Project

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:15:27 -0800 

On 2/23/2010 5:07 AM, Cedrick Johnson wrote:

library(rant)
I'm sorry: I'm not familiar with the "rant" package. I couldn't find it on CRAN. 
I recall just over a year ago (Fall08) when I was new to the R
language. I realize there's a steep curve in any language, especially
with R and the multitudes of packages that exist.

With that being said, I still took (still do) time out to read the
manuals, the vignettes and perform some cursory research on what it is
I am trying to accomplish before posting. 99.999% of the time I have
found what I am looking for (and learned something else new along the
way).

It sounds to me (and I may be incorrect in my initial impression,
correct me if I am wrong) that the OP has not the slightest idea of
what he/she wants to do with the 'data' once it is there. I have over
the course of my personal journey with R come to appreciate the
posting guides of the various R lists. I also have a full appreciation
for the vignettes and other associated documentation that has been
assembled (my primary domain is in the fin/econometrics *with a dash
of forecasting* packages) -- I am sure pkg maintainers aren't putting
these together for their sanity.

A little research and understanding what you are trying to accomplish
will go a long way.
Agreed. In this case, the original poster submitted virtually the same question again with a different Subject. That thread made it clear that s/he wanted to connect from R to a database and generate reports. S/he somehow accessed the database but still had trouble generating reports and questions that could be easily understood on this list. 
<End coffee deficient morning rant>
-c

On 2/23/10, Petr PIKAL<petr.pi...@precheza.cz>  wrote:

Hi

r-help-boun...@r-project.org napsal dne 23.02.2010 05:50:25:


        I have a concern with the sentiment expressed:  When one is new
to a language, it is often not easy to know where to start in the
available documentation.  It's hard to RTFM when one does not know which

FM2R.


        I currently subscribe to email help for three other open source
collaborative projects.  This started with a problem I have not been
able to solve.  I reviewed options I could find, including posting a
question to R-help.  After careful study, I selected one alternative and

tried it.  When I hit a roadblock with that, I tried another.  When that

failed, I tried their help mailing lists.  So far, I have installed
three different software packages and gotten them to do simple things.
My current status reflects the famous line from Thomas Edison:  I know
several things that don't work.  I've been forced to postpone further
work on that project indefinitely.


        Was the question obvious?  The post included, "my goal is using R

i have to connect to the database and i have to generate reports."  We
can quibble with the lack of clarity in the prose;  for many people in
Germany (the poster had a German email address), English is a second
language.  (Gott sei dank dass ich nicht so oft meine Fragen auf Deutsch

stellen muss.)


        It looks to me like the questioner wants to access a standard
database system like MySQL, PostgreSQL or Oracle.  As far as I know,
that's not trivial.  Moreover, it's not easy even to find relevant
documentation.  S-Plus and more recently R have been part of my life not


I agree that it is not always straightforward and simple to find relevant
piece of information. R grew to powerful complex piece of software used in
quite remote application areas.

Paper dragons use similar approaches as airplanes to fly but airplanes
would need thorough study to learn how to operate them. I am not sure if
the OP is willing to do it.

> From other questions of OP it seems to me that it is a variation to

fortune("brain")

Regards
Petr


quite every day for the past seventeen years.  For most of that period,
I avoided databases, because I believed the learning curve would be
steep, and it seemed like one more thing that could distract me from the

most important things I had to do.  Not quite a year ago, I had to work
with a database system.  I learned to use RBloomberg, RODBC, etc.,
enough to do what seemed to be required.  However, at least for me, it
was not easy to decide where to start.


        Best Wishes,
        Spencer Graves


On 2/22/2010 5:25 AM, Detlef Steuer wrote:

One vote goes to Dave's answer!

You made (saved) my day
detlef


On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:07:23 +0000
"Dr. David Kirkby"<david.kir...@onetel.net>   wrote:



chinna wrote:


hi everyone,
i am new to R project can anyone please help me by providing

documents....

my goal is using R i have to connect to the database and i have to

generate

reports.

Thanks in advance
chinna.


R is a complex program. If you can't work out how to find the

documentation, I

doubt you will be able to use R.

Dave

______________________________________________
R-help@r-project.org  mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting

guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.


______________________________________________
R-help@r-project.org  mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting

guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html

and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.




--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567

______________________________________________
R-help@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.

______________________________________________
R-help@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.




--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567

______________________________________________
R-help@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.

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