[R] Gaussian Process Classification R packages

Tue Dec 12 02:54:51 CET 2017

As a total novice and somebody lurking in the background who doesn't have a
need to use R regularly except for a one-time project, I also am surprised
by (really mainly one or two) people who answer most posts by telling people
to do their homework, spend more time studying R, etc.  Even novices know
these things, and so those replies are totally unhelpful.

For novices who have a "one time" need to use R for a project, we cannot
spend months studying as if we were going to use it every day in our jobs.
We simply read some tutorials, some books, etc. and when we run into an
issue that we cannot resolve, we ask for help.  I thought that was what
forums such as this were about - people who voluntarily answer questions for
free because they are interested in the subject.

That said, I agree totally about the need to be clear and concise when
posting questions.  But as a novice, we sometimes are not sure exactly what
the relevant information is that is needed to answer our question.

In summary, how about cutting novices some slack?  If you don't want to
answer a post in a helpful way, then just ignore it.  You don't need to
interject yourself into every post.  

-----Original Message-----
From: R-help [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Damjan
Krstajic
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2017 6:37 PM
To: Bert Gunter <bgunter.4567 at gmail.com>; Jeff Newmiller
<jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>
Cc: R-help <r-help at r-project.org>; Berry, Charles <ccberry at ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: [R] Gaussian Process Classification R packages

For the record please re-read my original message. It is clear, concise,
polite and thankful for future help. I received a reply "Google it!". Thank
you!

Thank you Jeff for your links. I am aware of them. However, they do not
point to an R package for  GP for binary classification which produces
prediction intervals.

It seems that r-help is not as it was before. Wish you all the best. Roger
and out.

________________________________
From: Bert Gunter <bgunter.4567 at gmail.com>
Sent: 12 December 2017 00:01
To: Jeff Newmiller
Cc: R-help; Damjan Krstajic; Berry, Charles
Subject: Re: [R] Gaussian Process Classification R packages

For the record:

I **was** trying to be helpful. I simply didn't know whether "I struggled"
meant that the OP had done a web search; as Chuck mentioned, when I did one,
I found what looked like possibly helpful hits. The OP's hostile response
frankly surprised me, but I see no reason to respond in kind.

Cheers,
Bert

Bert Gunter

"The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along and
sticking things into it."
-- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip )

On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 3:48 PM, Jeff Newmiller
<jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us<mailto:jdnewmil at dcn.davis.ca.us>> wrote:
While a plea about struggling may seem appropriate to you, it is just as
content-free as a reply telling you to use Google... and like it or not,
that tit-for-tat arises due to frustration with lack of specificity as
detailed by Charles. That is, if you are constructive about documenting your
issue with a reproducible example and mentioning what you have tried and how
it failed, you won't prompt such frustrated/unhelpful responses in the
future.

Did you find [1] or [2]?

[1]
https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/177677/gaussian-process-prediction
-interval

[2]
https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/9131/obtaining-a-formula-for-predi
ction-limits-in-a-linear-model/9144#9144
--
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On December 11, 2017 9:53:01 AM PST, Damjan Krstajic
<dkrstajic at hotmail.com<mailto:dkrstajic at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>Thank you Charles Berry for your kind reply. I don't see anything wrong 
>with the word "struggling". I have spent several hours trying various R 
>packages like kernlab and GPfit to use GP to create a binary 
>classification model which produces a prediction interval for each 
>sample. I have been struggling because with all of them you may create 
>a GP classification model but it only produces a single prediction 
>probability, and not a prediction interval of probabilities. Packages 
>that I have tried may provide a prediction interval for regression but 
>not for binary classification.
>
>
>You mention "The Gaussian Processes Web Site", have you checked how 
>many R packages are listed there?
>
>
>I have been coding in R for more than a decade and contact r-help when 
>I am struggling (I don't see anything wrong with this word) to find a 
>solution in R. Replies like "Google it!" are below my level of my 
>communication and understanding of others.
>
>
>Best wishes
>
>DK
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Berry, Charles <ccberry at ucsd.edu<mailto:ccberry at ucsd.edu>>
>Sent: 11 December 2017 17:04
>To: Damjan Krstajic
>Cc: Bert Gunter; r-help at r-project.org<mailto:r-help at r-project.org>
>Subject: Re: Gaussian Process Classification R packages
>
>
>> On Dec 11, 2017, at 8:06 AM, Damjan Krstajic 
>> <dkrstajic at hotmail.com<mailto:dkrstajic at hotmail.com>>
>wrote:
>>
>> I have kindly asked for help and I am sad to receive such a reply
>from some on the r-help list.
>>
>>
>
>Well, you only said you were `struggling' to find a package.
>
>Bert may well have done the Google search himself and found numerous 
>resources on such models including links to R (as I did, see below).
>If so, his response seems quite natural.
>
>Perhaps, you need to say what is wrong with the hits you got and the 
>packages that they describe to keep a potential response from running 
>in the wrong direction. Perhaps, you have misunderstood the 
>capabilities of a package or failed to grasp an inobvious way to use 
>the package to reach your goal.  In any case, providing some background 
>of why you think the obvious leads do not work in your case can be 
>helpful.
>
>Doing that search myself I see links to R packages, R functions, and to 
>"The Gaussian Processes Web Site" which has a table of possibly 
>relevant softwares.  It seems like there is a lot there to digest.
>
>HTH,
>
>Chuck
>
>> I did google it prior to sending my request, and I could not find any
>R package which provides GP classification model which produces 
>prediction intervals for each sample. I would be grateful if anybody 
>could inform me about it. Thank you.
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Bert Gunter 
>> <bgunter.4567 at gmail.com<mailto:bgunter.4567 at gmail.com>>
>> Sent: 11 December 2017 15:50
>> To: Damjan Krstajic
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org<mailto:r-help at r-project.org>
>> Subject: Re: [R] Gaussian Process Classification R packages
>>
>> Google it!
>>
>> "R Gaussian process model binary classification."
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Bert
>>
>
>
>
>       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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______________________________________________
R-help at r-project.org<mailto:R-help at r-project.org> mailing list -- To
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	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

______________________________________________
R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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