data.table Workshop

Description:

The data.table (http://datatable.r-forge.r-project.org/) workshop will focus most heavily on the use of the package including mastering its unique syntax, best practices and proper programming techniques. No prior familiarity with data.table will be assumed nor required.

We will briefly cover the benefits of data.table--the why to use data.table--which includes significantly faster execution, better memory handling and (subjectively) cleaner code. We will then spend most of our time learning how to use data.table by covering real world examples.

It will be assumed that participants have a working knowledge of R (http://www.r-project.org/), including working with data.frames (http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/base/html/data.frame.html). Ideally, participants will also be familiar with using the apply (http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/base/html/apply.html) family of functions, especially lapply (http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/base/html/lapply.html). These will be reviewed if necessary.

Depending on time and the inclination of the attendees, we may cover additional topics such as parallel processing with data.table and foreach (http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/foreach/index.html), reshaping data, and debugging techniques.

Bio:

Rick Saporta (https://github.com/rsaporta) is a Data Scientist at The Orchard (http://theorchard.com/), one of the worlds largest independent music and video distribution companies. Rick is also a humble contributor to the data.table package.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Rick moved to Queens, NY at two years young and then to the Garden State at the age of eight. At Rutgers University (http://www.rutgers.edu/) he studied both mathematics and psychology as an undergrad and data analytics as a masters student.

When not crashing computers and taking down servers, Rick can be caught behind a camera as likely to be photographing musicians at rock shows as he is to be standing behind a tripod in front of serene landscapes. His favorite mountains are Wyoming’s Grand Tetons, his favorite prime number is 31. You can ask him about his favorite band.

Thank you to The Orchard for hosting this workshop.