R Beginner's Guide Book Update 10/1/2010

Update: Statistical Analysis with R is now available!

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I recently submitted the final drafts of all chapters of my R Beginner's Guide book, which is to be published through Packt. The official publishing timeline is set to December 2010, although the book may release ahead of schedule if all continues to go well. Below is an updated list of the major topics covered in the R Beginner's Guide.

Over the course of this book, you will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to:

• Conduct organized data analyses in R
• Communicate data analyses conducted in R
• Generate, customize, and export detailed charts, plots, and graphs
• Build your own custom data visualizations
• Program in the R language
• Create your own custom functions
• Extend the functionality of R via external packages
• Manage the R workspace and console
• Import external data into R
• Manipulate data using variables
• Execute a wide array of multi-argument and variable-argument functions
• Develop and employ predictive regression models
• Assess the practical and statistical significance of predictions
• Understand R, its benefits, and how to use it to maximize the impact of your data analyses

R Beginner's Guide Book Update 7/19/2010

Update: Statistical Analysis with R is now available!

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I am excited to announce that I have submitted the entire first draft of my R Beginner's Guide book, which is to be published through Packt. The tenth and final chapter was submitted a full month ahead of schedule. The printed book could become available in as little as three to four months.

Below is a list of the major topics covered in the R Beginner's Guide.

• Understanding what R is, its benefits, and why to use it
• Downloading, installing, and running R
• Dissecting the anatomy of R
• Programming in R
• Handling external data
• Using variables
• Managing the R workspace and console
• Using multi-argument and variable-argument functions
• Creating predictive data models
• Assessing practical vs. statistical significance
• Regression modeling
• Creating custom functions
• Assessing the viability of predictions
• Organizing and communicating data analyses
• Generating, customizing, and exporting graphics
• Building custom visualizations
• Extending R via packages
• Taking advantage of electronic learning resources

R Beginner's Guide Book Update 4/28/2010

Update: Statistical Analysis with R is now available!

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I am writing to update you on the progress of my R Beginner's Guide book, which is to be published through Packt. I have really gotten to work over the past couple months and have recently completed the first draft of the first half of the book. Right now, I am operating a few weeks ahead of our planned schedule, which calls for the first draft of all ten chapters by mid-August.

To give you an idea of its content, the book focuses on most of the topics covered in this blog as well as many more, such as data visualization, custom functions, and online resources. The topics are covered in great depth and numerous opportunities for practice and exploration are offered. The book's theme centers around the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China. The reader takes on the role of the lead strategist for the Shu kingdom at a pivotal point in history. Throughout the book, the reader uses R to help devise a course of action for the Shu forces.

I will continue to make steady progress on this book over the summer months. I am also excited to be able to share more R tutorials and knowledge in the near future through this project.

R Tutorial Series: R Beginner's Guide and R Bloggers Updates

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1/1/2011 Update: Tal Galili wrote an article that revisits the first year of R-Bloggers and this post was listed as one of the top 14. Therefore, I decided to make a small update to each section. I start by describing the initial series of tutorials that I wrote. A few more have been added since and even more planned in the upcoming year. As always, an up to date listing of my articles can be found on the R Tutorial Series blog. New posts will also continue to be offered through the R Bloggers network.

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Since October 2009, I have written 13 articles [many more now, of course] for the R Tutorial Series blog. The first two introduce new users to R. The remaining 11 cover a wide range of topics related to multiple regression and correlation. This collection of tutorials represents my most recent training in statistics. Thus, for the time being, I will not be contributing new articles as frequently as I have over the past few months. However, I will undoubtedly encounter future projects that require new statistical methods and partake in more statistics courses, both of which will provide additional tutorial material. Below is a categorized list of the articles currently offered in the R Tutorial Series.

Introduction to R

• Part 1
• Part 2

Descriptive Statistics

• Summary and Descriptive Statistics

Data Visualization

• Scatterplots

Correlation

• Zero-Order Correlations

Regression

• Simple Linear Regression
• Multiple Linear Regression
• Regression Assumptions
• Regression with Interaction Variables
• Regression with Categorical Variables
• Polynomial Regression
• Hierarchical Linear Regression

I also have two additional R-related items to update you on. The first is the R Bloggers website and the second is my R Beginner's Guide.

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1/1/2011 Update: I originally reported that 50 blogs composed the R Bloggers network. Now that number has risen to over 140. I hope that R Bloggers continues to thrive and contribute to the R community.

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R Tutorial Series on R Bloggers

R Bloggers (http://www.r-bloggers.com) is a website that aggregates over 50 different blogs that focus on R. It is an excellent resource for keeping up to date on the many uses of R and for learning about the wide range of work being conducted in R. I recommend using R Bloggers for these purposes. The R Tutorial Series was invited to participate in the R Bloggers collection and is now available to R Bloggers' readers.

R Beginner's Guide

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11/1/2010 Update: Statistical Analysis with R is now available!

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Lastly, I want to let you know that I am working on a beginner's guide for R. It is primarily focused towards introducing R to information technology, business, and data analyst professionals. The book will be offered through PACKT Publishing (http://www.packtpub.com) and should be available within the next year. If you have enjoyed the R Tutorial Series, then you may be interested in looking for the guide once it is completed. In the meantime, keep reading the R Tutorial Series and R Bloggers and I will keep you updated on the book's major milestones.