I gave a tech talk at the Hatfield Marine Science Center on how cool R (the programming language) is and what you can do with it.

1. The possibilities R endless
HMSC Tech Talk
November 3rd, 2014
Nick Sard
nicksard@gmail.com

2. R is open-source, versatile, & powerful
• Open-source
– Inspect and change code written by others
– Reproducible research
• Versatile
– Simulate data
– Statistical analysis
– Create functions to process data
– Create many types of graphics
– Interface with websites
• Powerful
– Can integrate with “The Cloud” 
• Oregon State University
– Center for Genomic Research and Bioinformatics

3. Many different types of people use R

4. R is used by many well known companies
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/technology/business-computing/07program.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

5. Learning R might help
increase your income
http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2014/02/r-salary-surveys.html

6. R is la lingua statistica
• T-test, ANOVA, Linear
regression
• GLM – poisson, neg.
bin., zero-inflated, logit
• Mixed-effect models
• Bayesian statistics
• But there is so much
more it can do…
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_njskKyfiNvo/TZqYIJwbALI/AAAAAAAAA3s/FealNiZLF8U/image_thumb%5B13%5D.png?imgmax=800

7. Libraries are always expanding
R’s capabilities
• Freely use libraries
– >30,000 functions in R
– Improve/modify code
• Make your own library
– Collection of functions
– Share with community

8. The number of
R packages are
growing
exponentially!
http://r4stats.com/articles/popularity/

9. The number of
R packages are
growing
exponentially!
http://r4stats.com/articles/popularity/

10. The top ten
downloaded R
libraries
http://had.co.nz/

11. Before we get started with a demo…

12. The standard R GUI is plain and hard to work with
Use R Studio instead ;)

13. R Studio makes using R easier
• Integrated development environment (IDE)
– Highlights syntax
– Completes code (using tab)
– Automatic indentation for functions
– Ingrates with documentation
– Easy to make and save figures
– Links to GitHub
• Data backup
• Work on code in collaborative groups
• Let’s take a quick tour

14. R Studio layout – can be personalized
Code
Console
Files, plots,
packages, & help
Workspace,
Github, & more

15. Graphics in more detail
• Focus on libraries (not base graphics)
– ggplot2 created by Hadley Wickham - http://docs.ggplot2.org/current/
• gg short for Grammar of Graphics
• Versatile and powerful graphics
– Maps -http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/48828/how-to-make-beautiful-maps-in-r
• ArcMap alternative
– Rgl - http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/drupal/book/export/html/371
• 3D graphics
– Shiny - http://rstudio.github.io/shiny/tutorial/#welcome
• Makes interactive graphics on the web
– Shiny_rgl – example: https://github.com/muschellij2/shiny-sandbox
• Create 3D web graphics
– Plot.ly
• More interactive web based graphics:
• http://zevross.com/blog/2014/09/10/quickly-create-online-and-interactive-plots-using-plot-ly/

16. Reproducible research

17. Get stuck? Don’t worry!
R has an active community to help you!

18. Thanks!
• The code in the demo can be found here:
http://rpubs.com/nicksard/HMSC_tech_talk
• The slides for this PowerPoint can be found here:
http://www.slideshare.net/nicksard/sard-hmsc-tech-talk