"R Beginner" Bootcamp

Outline:

Will take breaks accordingly based on feedback from everyone. At tonight's test run I asked folks about snacks and the feedback was to both have folks bring their snacks of choice, and to also have some snack bars, fruit as backup. Microsoft NERD provides soda and has some Keurig-like coffee machines. Please let me know if you have any questions.

09:00 Acknowledgements, Overview - 5 min

09:05 R-Paradigm - 5 min

09:10 R-Studio - 30 min

09:40 Data Management- 30 min

10:10 Break - 10 min

10:20 Data Management - 20 min

10:40 Functions - 30 min

11:10 Break - 10 min

11:20 Graphics - 50 min

12:10 Advanced Stats - 10 min

12:20 Recap - 5 min

12:25 Closing Remarks - 5 min

Please arrive at the workshop with R, RStudio loaded on your laptop. Some links for each depending on your operating system are here:

R

R can be dowloaded from The Comprehensive R Archive Network (http://cran.r-project.org (http://cran.r-project.org/)):

RStudio

Download RStudio Desktop from their site: http://rstudio.org/download/desktop

This 3.5 hour course is the first in a series of hands-on workshops focused on learning R which is fast becoming an essential tool for data mining, machine learning, predictive analytics, and traditional statistics. Facebook, Google, and the New York Times all use R for complex data analysis as well as elaborate graphics; and numerous employers are actively seeking strong R skills.

The workshop is designed to get folks up and running, and will cover the basics of R including data management and moving real-world data in and out, performing analytics and generating data visualizations using various graphic packages. After completing this hands-on workshop, you'll have a foundation for moving onto more extensive analysis in R.

The workshop is being taught by David Weisman and Joseph Kambourakis. David Weisman has consulted in computer science and software engineering for 25 years and has also earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology, focused heavily in bioinformatics and big data mining. He uses R extensively throughout his work. Joseph Kambourakis is the instructor of EMC's data scientist class. We will also be receiving help from Ming Shan, who, is a Vice President of Marketing Science at GfK, which is a large, national market research firm. Ming has been using R for severals, and last December he presented "Decision Trees" at a R User Group and Predictive Analytics event.

Many thanks to Microsoft NERD for hosting this event. Hope to see you there!