I'm just starting to get a grasp on how R works so don't take my words too seriously but have a look at http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/ for some idea of what R can do for publication quality graphics. It is always possible that you might need another graphics package as well but I think it unlikely.
About the data bases I don't know really however you might want to have a look at Frank Harrell's Hmic package for things like labels. It also includes SAS and SPSS import funtions as does the foreign package. I'd say you definately need a code editor. I'm on Windows and happy with Tinn-R but for Linux something like http://ess.r-project.org/ seems to be recommended. If you have not already found it Bob Muenchen's R for SAS and SPSS Users http://oit.utk.edu/scc/RforSAS&SPSSusers.pdf may be very helpful. --- Martin Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi there, > > I would like some advice, not so much about how to > use R, but about software > that I need to complement R. I've rooted around in > the FAQ's and done a few > searches on this mailing list but haven't quite > found the perspective I > need. > > I am an experienced data analyst in my field (forest > ecology and ecological > monitoring) but new to R. I am a long time user of > SPSS and have gotten > pretty handy with it. However, I am frustrated with > SPSS for several > reasons: There's the cost (I'm a freelancer; I pay > for my software > myself); the Windows dependence (I use Kubuntu as > my usual OS now, and > switching back and forth is a pain); the horrible > inefficiency when I do > certain types of file manipulations; and the > inability to do the kind of > publication-quality graphs I want... I've usually > ended up using a > commercial graphing program (another source of > expense and limitation). > > I'd like to switch to using R on Kubuntu, for all > those reasons. In > addition I think the mathematical formality that R > encourages might be good > for me. > > However, reviewing the FAQ's on the R project web > site makes me realize that > I've been using SPSS as three kinds of software > really: a DBMS; a > statistical analysis package; and a graphing > package. It looks like moving > to R might involve learning three kinds of software, > not just one. I > wonder: > > 1) What open-source DBMS works most seamlessly with > R? I have seen MySQL > recommended but wonder if there are alternatives. I > sometimes need to > handle big data files. In fact a lot of my work > involves exploratory and > descriptive analyses of rather large and messy > databases from ecological > monitoring, rather than statistical tests per se. > In SPSS the data files I > have been generating have dozens of columns and > thousands of rows, often > with value and variable labels helpful for > documenting my work. > 2) For the purpose of creating publication-quality > graphs, do R users > typically need to go outside of the R system? If so, > what open-source > programs would you all recommend? > 3) Any other software I need to learn that would > make my work in R more > productive? (for example, a code editor). > > Thank you for your time, > > Martin J. Brown > Portland, Oregon > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch 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@stat.math.ethz.ch 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.