Databases (SQL, noSQL); Interfacing R with Excel

Alert: venue different than usually (see below).

In this meeting we'll have 4 short (15-20 min) talks on data storage and processing in databases (both relational and non-relational), interfacing these databases with R, and interfacing R with Excel.

1. A SQL primer for R users
   Neal Fultz

Abstract: At some point, CSVs just don't cut it. In this talk we will introduce database concepts and discuss basic SQL, including conditions, sorting, joins, and aggregation functions, as well as more advanced topics
such as subqueries.

Bio: Neal is now a PhD student in Statistics at UCLA, after receiving his MIMS from the School of Information at UC Berkeley and working as a Java developer at a marketing analytics startup for several years.

2. R Database Access
   Shrikrishna Bhogaonker

Abstract: I will cover database interfaces to R, such as RODBC, RPGSQL, RMySQL, and some other packages. I will also review the sqldf package, which allows users to search through R dataframes using SQL.

Bio: Krishna is a graduate student in Political Science at UCLA. Before that, he spent 10 years managing large networking and hardware deployment projects in the Manufacturing, Chemicals, and Financial Services industries. While at General Motors he played an instrumental role in bringing the company to its knees. While at Bank of America he was almost entirely responsible for the sub-prime lending crisis and the ouster of the CEO.

3. NoSQL data stores
   Scott Gonyea

Abstract: Scott will be introducing some of the concepts behind many NoSQL databases, R packages that are available, etc.

Bio: Scott Gonyea is a Ruby software developer at Epoch. He has experience with a variety of SQL and "NoSQL" databases, Search, data processing, etc. Besides Ruby, Scott has worked extensively in Perl, C, ObjC, and Java, among many others.

4. Interfacing R with Excel
   Eric Kostello

Abstract: R and Excel often coexist and people need to exchange data between the two. I will present a table of which solutions can read, which can write, and on which platforms. I will then demonstrate one cross-platform read/write solution: the xlsx package. I will also show a Windows only solution that allows for manual formatting of Excel templates, then programmatic population of the cells and sheets using R and RDCOMClient. I will conclude with a brief discussion of the RExcel package.

Bio: Eric Kostello, PhD, is the Director of Product Development in the Global Product Strategy and Integration group of The Nielsen Company. He is currently working with Nielsen/NRG, which specializes in research for movie studios. He has extensive experience working with survey data and has conducted investigations into topics ranging from user generated content metrics to the transition to market economies in Eastern Europe.

Please RSVP as places are limited.

Venue (different than usually!): UCLA MS 6627 (north wing of the same building)

Starting time as usual: 6:30pm