5 ms·
In my experience, non-programmers are the only people who can grok R in the first hour.
by thrownaway2424 13y ago
In my experience, non-programmers are the only people who can grok R in the first hour.
- Fomite 13y agoMy own experience was that I came from statistical languages like SAS, bounced right off R, ended up learning Python and then came back to R and was like "ohhhh…" It's an odd language, that makes assumptions neither group really hold dear to their heart, but it's also intensely useful.
- noahmarc 13y agoFor someone with a programming background, this is one of the best introductions I've seen: http://medianetwork.oracle.com/video/player/2623621262001 http://medianetwork.oracle.com/video/player/2623621262001
- minimax 13y agoThat's a very good way of putting it!
- Crito 13y agoI'm not so sure. A few years ago in university I took a stats course (offered by the maths department) that had twice-weekly mandatory labs where we learned and used R. Most people in the course were not programmers at all, and I ended up helping people most of the time during the course. R is really weird, but non-programmers are typically unaccustomed to precisely typing non-english into a computer. They aren't trained to quickly spot syntax errors or grok error messages.