Since you want input from beginners, here are some thoughts
I had and still have two big problems with R:
- this vectorization thing. I've read many manuals (including R
inferno), but I'm still not completely clear about it. In simple
examples, it's fine. But when it gets a bit more complex, then...
Related to it, the *apply functions are still a bit difficult to
understand. When I have to use them, I just try one and see what
happens. I don't understand them well enough to know which one I need.
- the second problem is where to find the functions/packages I need.
There are many options, and that's actually the problem. R Wiki, Rseek,
RSiteSearch, Crantastic, etc... When you start with R, you discover that
the capabilities of R are almost unlimited and you don't really know
where to start, where to find what you need.
As noted in earlier posts, the mailing list is really great, but some
people are really hard with beginners. It was noted in a discussion a
few days ago, but it looks like some don't realize how difficult it is
at the beginning to formulate a good question, clear, with
self-contained example and so on. Moreover, not everybody speaks English
natively. I don't mean that you must help, even when the question is
really vague and not clear and whatever. I'm just saying that if you
don't want to help (whatever the reason), you don't have to say it
badly. But in any cases, the mailing list is still really helpful. As
someone noted (sorry I erased the email so I don't remember who), it
might be a good idea to split it.
Hope that's what you wanted
Ivan
Le 2/26/2010 08:39, Dieter Menne a écrit :
Patrick Burns wrote:
* What were your biggest misconceptions or
stumbling blocks to getting up and running
with R?
(This derives partly from teaching)
The fact that this xapply-stuff was not idempotent (worse: not always) and
that you need a monster like do.call() to straighten this out. Nowadays,
plyr comes close.
The concept of environment. With S it was worse, though.
That you cannot change values "passed by reference". I noted that the latter
is no problem for students who have not worked with c(++/#) before. That
there is only one return-result in functions.
"[" and the likes as an operator.
10 years ago, when I started, the message was: S4 is the future, S3 is
legacy. So I learned S4. Only to never use is in self-written code later.
Might be different for BioConductor people.
That sometimes you can use vectors not in data= (lattice), and sometimes not
(ggplot2). Still a VERY confusing inconsistency.
The "why-does-this-not-print" FAQ.
Why does par(oma..) not work with lattice?
Dieter
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