For Google searches, I find that throwing in the term cran on every search helps weed out irrelevant pages.
For example, instead of r residuals I type r cran residuals --Chris Ryan ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 09:43:14 -0400 >From: Luc Villandre <villa...@dms.umontreal.ca> >Subject: Re: [R] How to google for R stuff? >To: Kynn Jones <kyn...@gmail.com> >Cc: r-help@r-project.org > > >Kynn Jones wrote: >> Hi! I'm new to R programming, though I've been programming in other >> languages for years. >> >> One thing I find most frustrating about R is how difficult it is to use >> Google (or any other search tool) to look for answers to my R-related >> questions. With languages with even slightly more distinctive names like >> Perl, Java, Python, Matlab, OCaml, etc., usually including the name of the >> language in the query is enough to ensure that the top hits are relevant. >> But this trick does not work for R, because the letter R appears by itself >> in so many pages, that the chaff overwhelms the wheat, so to speak. >> >> So I'm curious to learn what strategies R users have found to get around >> this annoyance. >> >> TIA! >> >> KJ >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help@r-project.org mailing list >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >Hi Kynn, > >I've had this problem too in the beginning. Luckily, my personal >experience has taught me that almost all relevant R-related information >can be found either by searching directly through the archives of the >different R-forums or by using the functions "RSiteSearch()" or >"help.search()". The reference manuals provided with each package >(easily accessible on CRAN) are also invaluable sources of information. > >Unfortunately, phrasing queries in a way that will yield relevant >results is sometimes hard. Knowledge of the terminology mostly comes >from experience, so patience is in order. > >Of course, as a last recourse, there's always the mailing list. > >Bottom line is, I suggest you try to avoid generic search engines and >concentrate your efforts on the different R-forums (note that there are >also package-specific forums). > >I suspect the more experienced R-users might have better strategies to >propose though... > >Cheers, >-- >*Luc Villandré* >/Biostatistician >McGill University Health Center - >Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute/ > >______________________________________________ >R-help@r-project.org mailing list >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.