[R] two questions for R beginners

[Robert Baer]

Honestly what I remember as the most difficult thing when I 'first'
started using R was figuring out how to read in my own datasets.  I
eventually discovered the R import/export manual, but somehow this alluded
me initially.  All the R "tutorials" I was working from simply "generated"
data or used the built in datasets, and "I" was ready to work on my own
datasets.

The things that led from "frustration" to "independence" was understanding
the difference between data types like matrix and dataframe and learning
there were commands to tell what you were working with at any given time.
Did the data read in as character, numeric, or factor, etc.  Commands
like: str, class, mode, ls, search, help, help.search, etc can help you
figure out what you are doing.

Rob




-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org]
On Behalf Of Patrick Burns
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:31 AM
To: r-help at r-project.org
Subject: [R] two questions for R beginners

* What were your biggest misconceptions or
stumbling blocks to getting up and running
with R?

* What documents helped you the most in this
initial phase?

I especially want to hear from people who are
lazy and impatient.

Feel free to write to me off-list.  Definitely
write off-list if you are just confirming what
has been said on-list.

-- 
Patrick Burns
pburns at pburns.seanet.com
http://www.burns-stat.com
(home of 'The R Inferno' and 'A Guide for the Unwilling S User')

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