8 ms·

Learn R two minutes at a time

180 points by bsg75 14y ago

gaving 14y ago
http://www.screenr.com/7wp8 http://www.screenr.com/7wp8 what... just happened
- aw3c2 14y ago
  Just downvoted you because I visited the site, only say the short text (I dont use Flash nor do I browse with JS enabled) and it looked like spam so I downvoted. Sorry. Your post here was not too verbose so it mislead me.
  - sesqu 14y ago
    I was very hesitant as well, but eventually determined it was a relevant link (a screencast with impressive video quality, but less impressive content). GP's comment could certainly be improved.
- nilliams 14y ago
  Haha, that one's especially amazing. He definitely seems to be using the 'Zero Punctuation' style of dictation. (Write it all down in advance, then just read it out all at once without respecting natural pauses etc later). It is hilarious, and surprisingly engaging :) Zero Punctuation: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation (language is NSFW).
- gprasant 14y ago
  looks familiar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-5zELTa9Ris#t=57s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
woodall 14y ago
This guy is too entertaining.
ylem 14y ago
This is hilaRious! But, seriously, I like the 2 minute format for learning--you could just watch a bit when you had a lull during the day...
vasco 14y ago
I never knew tutorials could be so fun. I really enjoy the fact that he is quick about it too, most screencasts usually are so slow that it is a pain to follow.
redwood 14y ago
I love this.. I've got to be honest, I think I could even learn to program with tutorials like this. I'm just not very good at learning how to do active, complex tasks, by only reading about them.
johnohara 14y ago
Reminds me of the SlapChop video. (not a shameless plug) https://slapchop.com/ https://slapchop.com/
- nuttendorfer 14y ago
  Why is this advertisement working on me? I'm usually resistant to ads but I really want to buy this.
  - draggnar 14y ago
    "You're going to love my nuts"
  - jodrellblank 14y ago
    I don't know. But how often do you "not have time to make breakfast", but have a peeled hard boiled egg, washed topped and tailed green onion and unpacked chopped ham ready? Or you "hate making salad", but right there - peeled washed topped and tailed carrots, topped tailed and washed radishes, prepared celery. And no leaves. The chopping and mixing bit is a fun bit of making salad, it's all the washing and preparing which takes the majority of the time.
dave1619 14y ago
This is great. I love the concept of 2 minutes... it forces the author to really be concise and get to the point. Anybody know of any tutorials like this for web programming (javacript, rails, or python)?
- oops 14y ago
  The http://www.destroyallsoftware.com http://www.destroyallsoftware.com screencasts are great. A bit longer but still nice and dense. Both Ruby and Python plus other random stuff. Totally worth a look if you haven't already seen them.
- andyjsong 14y ago
  He talks a lot faster when the tutorials get more advanced. Kind of comical how fast he has to go to cram everything in 2 mins.
tferris 14y ago
Awesome format, wrong language. EDIT to downvoters: with 'wrong' I don't mean bad, just a very niche language and it would have been nice to see such a format for a more popular or general purpose language
- bsg75 14y ago
  It could be the start of a trend. Personally, I would like to see the same thing for Lua.
freditup 14y ago
I've never been a fan of video tutorials myself. They always seem to move too slow, too fast, or some of both. Obviously videos do have some advantages over written tutorials, but if I had a choice, I'd pick written. I didn't actually watch any of the R tutorials, so nothing that I said above is implying they are too fast/slow etc.
mapleoin 14y ago
Listening to the voice in this one gives me the creeps: http://www.screenr.com/JJp8 http://www.screenr.com/JJp8
alister 14y ago
I might be interested in learning R if I knew what it was. Even the webpage doesn't explain what it is until you watch one of the videos. I see this all the time on software-related websites. They launch into the technical details without even one sentence about what it is. I could give a whole bunch of examples here but I think everyone has experienced this. Please include something like the following on the webpage and--if there's space--in the headline too: "R (a programming language for statistics)" I don't mean to single out the guy who did these great tutorials. I mean this for everybody. If your software product/OS/service/language is not Photoshop, Linux, Google, or Java, then write a couple of words right at the top to explain what it is please.
- aggronn 14y ago
  Unless you're doing in-depth statistical analysis, there's not really any reason to know anything about R. It isn't a useful general purpose language. That is to say, while your suggestion is certainly valid and appreciable, the reason why there are rarely primers for content about R (specifically) is that the intended audience is primarily academic, where the audience is already familiar with the technology. if you take an applied statistics class, you'll learn how to use R there. If you're not already in the club, there isn't much reason for you to join it unless you're leaving industry to do scientific-level statistical analysis. This isn't me saying "Mind your own business!". I'm just giving the perspective of the writers for most R content.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - h84ru3a 14y ago
    But couldn't R have applications in business (industry)? A businessperson once asked me about R after he read a non-technical article about it in a major newspaper. This person has never been in academia. Why was he curious? What could he possibly see in R? I see R as a "disruptor" to the market that SPSS has had under lock and key for as long as I can remember. Perhaps statistics has utility outside of academics? Maybe R can give anyone the power of something like SPSS, for free. Now what I want to know is how to convert "screenr" into a more open format. Can you convert to video? R is not dependent on a GUI. Maybe you could convert to screen(1) format, along with an mp3.
wolframarnold 14y ago
Go through all this trouble but forget to make the font size bigger and the encoding quality such that it's actually legible? Baffling.
kennethologist 14y ago
I like the short, one focus per video format. Consumption is quick and effective.
pknerd 14y ago
So is it for R only?

180 points by bsg75 14y ago

gaving 14y ago

http://www.screenr.com/7wp8 http://www.screenr.com/7wp8 what... just happened

aw3c2 14y ago
Just downvoted you because I visited the site, only say the short text (I dont use Flash nor do I browse with JS enabled) and it looked like spam so I downvoted. Sorry. Your post here was not too verbose so it mislead me.
- sesqu 14y ago
  I was very hesitant as well, but eventually determined it was a relevant link (a screencast with impressive video quality, but less impressive content). GP's comment could certainly be improved.
nilliams 14y ago
Haha, that one's especially amazing. He definitely seems to be using the 'Zero Punctuation' style of dictation. (Write it all down in advance, then just read it out all at once without respecting natural pauses etc later). It is hilarious, and surprisingly engaging :) Zero Punctuation: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation (language is NSFW).
gprasant 14y ago
looks familiar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-5zELTa9Ris#t=57s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

woodall 14y ago

This guy is too entertaining.

ylem 14y ago

This is hilaRious! But, seriously, I like the 2 minute format for learning--you could just watch a bit when you had a lull during the day...

vasco 14y ago

I never knew tutorials could be so fun. I really enjoy the fact that he is quick about it too, most screencasts usually are so slow that it is a pain to follow.

redwood 14y ago

I love this.. I've got to be honest, I think I could even learn to program with tutorials like this. I'm just not very good at learning how to do active, complex tasks, by only reading about them.

johnohara 14y ago

Reminds me of the SlapChop video. (not a shameless plug) https://slapchop.com/ https://slapchop.com/

nuttendorfer 14y ago
Why is this advertisement working on me? I'm usually resistant to ads but I really want to buy this.
- draggnar 14y ago
  "You're going to love my nuts"
- jodrellblank 14y ago
  I don't know. But how often do you "not have time to make breakfast", but have a peeled hard boiled egg, washed topped and tailed green onion and unpacked chopped ham ready? Or you "hate making salad", but right there - peeled washed topped and tailed carrots, topped tailed and washed radishes, prepared celery. And no leaves. The chopping and mixing bit is a fun bit of making salad, it's all the washing and preparing which takes the majority of the time.

dave1619 14y ago

This is great. I love the concept of 2 minutes... it forces the author to really be concise and get to the point. Anybody know of any tutorials like this for web programming (javacript, rails, or python)?

oops 14y ago
The http://www.destroyallsoftware.com http://www.destroyallsoftware.com screencasts are great. A bit longer but still nice and dense. Both Ruby and Python plus other random stuff. Totally worth a look if you haven't already seen them.
andyjsong 14y ago
He talks a lot faster when the tutorials get more advanced. Kind of comical how fast he has to go to cram everything in 2 mins.

tferris 14y ago

Awesome format, wrong language. EDIT to downvoters: with 'wrong' I don't mean bad, just a very niche language and it would have been nice to see such a format for a more popular or general purpose language

bsg75 14y ago
It could be the start of a trend. Personally, I would like to see the same thing for Lua.

freditup 14y ago

I've never been a fan of video tutorials myself. They always seem to move too slow, too fast, or some of both. Obviously videos do have some advantages over written tutorials, but if I had a choice, I'd pick written. I didn't actually watch any of the R tutorials, so nothing that I said above is implying they are too fast/slow etc.

mapleoin 14y ago

Listening to the voice in this one gives me the creeps: http://www.screenr.com/JJp8 http://www.screenr.com/JJp8

alister 14y ago

I might be interested in learning R if I knew what it was. Even the webpage doesn't explain what it is until you watch one of the videos. I see this all the time on software-related websites. They launch into the technical details without even one sentence about what it is. I could give a whole bunch of examples here but I think everyone has experienced this. Please include something like the following on the webpage and--if there's space--in the headline too: "R (a programming language for statistics)" I don't mean to single out the guy who did these great tutorials. I mean this for everybody. If your software product/OS/service/language is not Photoshop, Linux, Google, or Java, then write a couple of words right at the top to explain what it is please.

aggronn 14y ago
Unless you're doing in-depth statistical analysis, there's not really any reason to know anything about R. It isn't a useful general purpose language. That is to say, while your suggestion is certainly valid and appreciable, the reason why there are rarely primers for content about R (specifically) is that the intended audience is primarily academic, where the audience is already familiar with the technology. if you take an applied statistics class, you'll learn how to use R there. If you're not already in the club, there isn't much reason for you to join it unless you're leaving industry to do scientific-level statistical analysis. This isn't me saying "Mind your own business!". I'm just giving the perspective of the writers for most R content.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- h84ru3a 14y ago
  But couldn't R have applications in business (industry)? A businessperson once asked me about R after he read a non-technical article about it in a major newspaper. This person has never been in academia. Why was he curious? What could he possibly see in R? I see R as a "disruptor" to the market that SPSS has had under lock and key for as long as I can remember. Perhaps statistics has utility outside of academics? Maybe R can give anyone the power of something like SPSS, for free. Now what I want to know is how to convert "screenr" into a more open format. Can you convert to video? R is not dependent on a GUI. Maybe you could convert to screen(1) format, along with an mp3.

wolframarnold 14y ago

Go through all this trouble but forget to make the font size bigger and the encoding quality such that it's actually legible? Baffling.

kennethologist 14y ago

I like the short, one focus per video format. Consumption is quick and effective.

pknerd 14y ago

So is it for R only?