Re: [R] Response to R across the university + Eddie Izzard Bonus
On 19 Apr 2008, at 12:01 AM, Peter Dalgaard wrote: > Antony Unwin wrote: >> >>> A couple other maybe not all that trivial things to do is to >>> improve the data import (it is losing out on most of the things >>> that I tried) >> >> Now what would Brian say to a comment like that? Please insert >> your favourite put-down here: >> >> > He'd usually say something about reproducible examples, just like > you... > > Don't get me wrong. I realize that the Open dialog in DataTable is > designed to read one, simple data format, not all of them. I just > couldn't easily figure out which one that was. > >> And then perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know in a >> little more detail what hasn't worked for you. > Anything in the data directory of the ISwR package, for instance > (whitespace separated and comma separated files, mostly). I suspect > that the format it _will_ read is TAB separated, but it would be > nice if it said so somewhere. (Curiously, thuesen.txt does have > tabs, but not equally many in the header as in the data lines, so it > can't be read at all, the others just get all fields and headers > jammed into one.) Thanks for making this clear. The way to load datafiles is to use the first command in the "File" menu "Load Datafile". This brings up a dialog box with the default options set (TAB separated, as you suspected) and with the opportunity to change them to whatever you want. Header lines define how many variables you have and so must have the same number of tabs as in the data lines to read the file successfully. Once you missed "Load Datafile" and went hunting for other ways of loading data, you were doomed to have problems. The "Data Table" command and its "Open" command are placeholders for possible future development and should be greyed out or left out rather than made available in their current state. Sorry. No one else has reported this problem and I hope no one else has had it. There are two short pdf files on JGR's webpage providing documentation and the Statistical Computing and Graphics Newsletter one has the information you needed. Otherwise writing to me or to Markus (Helbig) or Martin (Theus) or Simon (Urbanek) would have got a response. Writing to R-help is maybe a bit of overkill, but I'm glad you raised the issue. This is a lesson for us all that we never seem to learn: it's worth looking at the documentation, perhaps especially with R packages as everyone thinks a little bit differently and so does things a little bit differently. On the subject of whether to use manuals or not and looking for help, do have a look at Eddie Izzard's routine (enter "Eddie Izzard computer" on Youtube). If Eddie Izzard used statistical software, he'd use R. Best regards Antony __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
Antony Unwin wrote: > >> A couple other maybe not all that trivial things to do is to improve >> the data import (it is losing out on most of the things that I tried) > > Now what would Brian say to a comment like that? Please insert your > favourite put-down here: > > He'd usually say something about reproducible examples, just like you... Don't get me wrong. I realize that the Open dialog in DataTable is designed to read one, simple data format, not all of them. I just couldn't easily figure out which one that was. > And then perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know in a little > more detail what hasn't worked for you. Anything in the data directory of the ISwR package, for instance (whitespace separated and comma separated files, mostly). I suspect that the format it _will_ read is TAB separated, but it would be nice if it said so somewhere. (Curiously, thuesen.txt does have tabs, but not equally many in the header as in the data lines, so it can't be read at all, the others just get all fields and headers jammed into one.) -- O__ Peter Dalgaard Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph: (+45) 35327918 ~~ - ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) FAX: (+45) 35327907 __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
On 18 Apr 2008, at 6:42 pm, Peter Dalgaard wrote: > Antony Unwin wrote: >> ... >> >> The course itself went very well. We encouraged people to bring >> their laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the interface to R >> helped a lot, as it was easier for people to load their own data >> and use the help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. > Speaking of JGR... What are the appropriate channels to complain and/ > or contribute? This will do fine, though [EMAIL PROTECTED] would be the "official" route and Markus Helbig ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is the key person. > I had looked into it at an earlier point (on Fedora Linux) and got > stuck on some fairly simple usability issues, like font choice and > color scheme. Things like > > - if you select a bigger font, the window size remains the same. > Changes to window size do not survive to subsequent invokations. > > - output is quite unreadable in proportional fonts, so why make them > available? > > - some fonts have poor contrast, but there seems to be no way to > select boldface versions. > > - the latest version has turned to a blue-on-gray scheme, which > doesn't help with the contrast either > This is all pretty trivial stuff, but the bottom line is that all > the really exciting stuff isn't really of much use if students > cannot read it in the back rows. Your points should certainly be looked into. Having the font big enough for students to read in the back row has not been a problem for me. > A couple other maybe not all that trivial things to do is to improve > the data import (it is losing out on most of the things that I tried) Now what would Brian say to a comment like that? Please insert your favourite put-down here: And then perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know in a little more detail what hasn't worked for you. > and to get the wires connected between the DataTable and the edit() > command. Thanks for your comments. Antony [[alternative HTML version deleted]] __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
Antony Unwin wrote: > ... > > The course itself went very well. We encouraged people to bring their > laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the interface to R helped a > lot, as it was easier for people to load their own data and use the > help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. > Speaking of JGR... What are the appropriate channels to complain and/or contribute? I had looked into it at an earlier point (on Fedora Linux) and got stuck on some fairly simple usability issues, like font choice and color scheme. Things like - if you select a bigger font, the window size remains the same. Changes to window size do not survive to subsequent invokations. - output is quite unreadable in proportional fonts, so why make them available? - some fonts have poor contrast, but there seems to be no way to select boldface versions. - the latest version has turned to a blue-on-gray scheme, which doesn't help with the contrast either This is all pretty trivial stuff, but the bottom line is that all the really exciting stuff isn't really of much use if students cannot read it in the back rows. A couple other maybe not all that trivial things to do is to improve the data import (it is losing out on most of the things that I tried) and to get the wires connected between the DataTable and the edit() command. best -pd -- O__ Peter Dalgaard Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph: (+45) 35327918 ~~ - ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) FAX: (+45) 35327907 __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
http://stats.math.uni-augsburg.de/JGR/ Obviously a shameless product plug :) --- Tom Backer Johnsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Antony Unwin wrote: > > . > > > > The course itself went very well. We encouraged > people to bring their > > laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the > interface to R helped a > > lot, as it was easier for people to load their own > data and use the > > help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. > Giving everyone a > > Butterbreze (a local delicacy) halfway through may > have contributed to > > the good humour of the course as well! > > I apologize for my ignorance, but what is JGR? > > Tom > > __ > 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
JGR (speak 'Jaguar') is a universal and unified Graphical User Interface for R (it actually abbreviates Java Gui for R). see http://stats.math.uni-augsburg.de/JGR/ On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Tom Backer Johnsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Antony Unwin wrote: > > . > > > > > The course itself went very well. We encouraged people to bring their > > laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the interface to R helped a > > lot, as it was easier for people to load their own data and use the > > help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. Giving everyone a > > Butterbreze (a local delicacy) halfway through may have contributed to > > the good humour of the course as well! > > I apologize for my ignorance, but what is JGR? > > Tom > > > > __ > 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. > -- HUANG Ronggui, Wincent Bachelor of Social Work, Fudan University, China Master of sociology, Fudan University, China Ph.D. Candidate, CityU of HK, http://www.cityu.edu.hk/sa/psa_web2006/students/rdegree/huangronggui.html __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
Antony Unwin wrote: . > The course itself went very well. We encouraged people to bring their > laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the interface to R helped a > lot, as it was easier for people to load their own data and use the > help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. Giving everyone a > Butterbreze (a local delicacy) halfway through may have contributed to > the good humour of the course as well! I apologize for my ignorance, but what is JGR? Tom __ 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.
Re: [R] Response to R across the university
Antony Unwin wrote: > This email isn't asking for assistance, but I thought R-help readers > would find it interesting. This week we offered a half-day > introduction to R for researchers at Augsburg University. The > response was astonishing. Although Augsburg has no medical faculty > and no engineers, there was far too much demand, with interest from > every faculty (barring theology, "for one small village of indomitable > Gauls still holds out against the R invaders" --- perhaps that should > be obdurate rather than indomitable) and we had participants from > computer science, geography, physics, law, linguistics, education, > sociology, marketing, psychology, finance, ... > > The course itself went very well. We encouraged people to bring their > laptops and work in groups. Using JGR as the interface to R helped a > lot, as it was easier for people to load their own data and use the > help. Of course, JGR is compulsory in Augsburg. Giving everyone a > Butterbreze (a local delicacy) halfway through may have contributed to > the good humour of the course as well! > > Statistics doesn't always have a positive image. I can recommend > running an R course as one way of making a good impression. > > > Antony Unwin > Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, > Mathematics Institute, > University of Augsburg, > 86135 Augsburg, Germany > Tel: + 49 821 5982218 > http://stats.math.uni-augsburg.de/ > This is great to hear Antony, and you did a very nice job in setting up the workshop. Terri Scott in our department runs an R clinic each week in which anyone at the university can bring questions. We have had physicians, psychologists, and sociologists show up. This kind of interest is gratifying. For your audience I also suggest using R Commander. Frank -- Frank E Harrell Jr Professor and Chair School of Medicine Department of Biostatistics Vanderbilt University __ 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.
