Database-ics: an introduction to SQL for R users

As R users, we often read in data directly from files, such as .csv files. However, developing an understanding of SQL gives us an edge when working with big data, as we can connect to databases directly from R, pulling in only the bits that we need for analysis and saving memory. SQL can also be used to efficiently perform simple data manipulation tasks like sorting, filtering, and aggregation on large datasets, which would take significant computational resources in R.

In this RLadies workshop we will run through some basic SQL queries that can be used to retrieve and filter tables from databases, and learn a little bit about how relational databases work. We will then look at how to write and run SQL queries directly from R, and some use cases for this.

In order to fully participate in this workshop, please make sure you have R and RStudio installed on your laptop, and make sure you have the package ‘DBI’ installed by running `install.packages("DBI")` before the workshop. We will use this package to connect to a SQL database via R.

After the workshop, we will have ample time for networking and chatting over some snacks and drinks (courtesy of the Software Sustainability Institute).

Chloe Brook is a Data Science Applications Consultant at EPCC, University of Edinburgh. Having studied Biochemistry at university, she is keen to enthuse others who haven’t come directly from computer science backgrounds about the joys of coding and data. She is also an online tutor alongside her day job, and enjoys encouraging people to believe in their ability to learn and grow!