Introduction to R programming

BDSI Workshop
Published

April 3, 2024

Welcome 👋

This is a training workshop for staff and students affiliated with the Australian National University (ANU) offered by the ANU Biological Data Science Institute (BDSI).

The workshop is designed to introduce participants to the fundamentals of using R for basic computations. It is suitable for individuals with no prior experience in R or those seeking a refresher in R. Familiarity with basic summary statistics (mean, median, standard deviation, quartiles, etc.) is assumed. It’s important to note that this workshop alone is not sufficient to practice data analysis. Attendees are encouraged to also participate in the Data Wrangling with R (Part 1) and Data Visualization with R (Part 1) workshops to acquire essential skills for contemporary data wrangling and visualization practices.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of the workshop, participants should be able to:

  • Conduct elementary arithmetic operations using R
  • Navigate the RStudio interactive development environment (IDE)
  • Install external packages in R to extend functionality
  • Comprehend various object types in R
  • Manipulate lists, matrices, and vectors in R
  • Compute basic summary statistics including mean, median, quartiles, and standard deviation using R
  • Grasp the concept of missing values within the R environment
  • Import and export data in R
  • Create basic functions, employ conditional statements, and utilize for loops in R
  • Decipher error messages and do basic troubleshooting

Preperation

You will need a laptop that can connect to the internet during the workshop. Please ensure that you download and install

  • the latest version of R,
  • the latest version of RStudio Desktop,
  • (Optional) Slack (alternatively you can use the web version), and

If you are having issues, ask in the slack channel or talk to the teaching team during the workshop.

Slack workspace (Optional)

We use Slack to facilitate communication between workshop participants and the teaching team.

  • You must use your ANU email to sign up.
  • Use your full name.
  • By joining, you agree to abide by this code of conduct.
  • Please don’t direct message the teaching team in Slack. Your questions are more likely to be answered in the Slack channels rather than in direct messages.

Please note that the teaching team does not necessarily actively monitor or attend to the Slack workspace outside of the workshop.

Teaching team

  • Academic statistician passionate about data science and open source software
  • Currently, Deputy Director of ANU Biological Data Science Institute and Executive Editor of R Journal
  • PhD in Statistical Bioinformatics
  • BSci (Adv Maths) with major in Mathematics and Statistics
  • Loves data and coding

        https://emitanaka.org     @statsgen     fosstodon.org/@emitanaka

  • 2nd year of PhD student at ANU, working on phylogenomics methods to study hybridisation
  • BSci in Bioinformatics
  • Enjoy hiking and science
  • jeremiasivan
  • 3rd Year PhD student @ Linde Lab, E&E Division, RSB, ANU
  • Investigating the evolution of the Australian orchid flora and associated funga
  • MScSt (Biodiversity Science)
  • Loves playing music, reading, nature
  • @rpodonnell
  • rpodonnell.github.io
  • 2nd Year PhD student @ Sequeira Lab, E&E Division, RSB, ANU
  • Identifying social, collective, or coordinated movement behaviour patterns in sharks using tracking data
  • MSc (Marine Biology), BSc (Biology)
  • Loves triathlon, hiking and the ocean
  • @nilskreuter
  • https://linktr.ee/nilskreuter

Materials

The materials can be found here.

These materials are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This website is brought to you by the ANU Biological Data Science Institute.