François Pinard wrote: > [David Forrest] > > >>[...] A few end-to-end tutorials on some interesting analyses would be >>helpful. > > > I'm in the process of learning R. While tutorials are undoubtedly very > useful, and understanding that working and studying methods vary between > individuals, what I (for one) would like to have is a fairly complete > reference manual to the library. > > Of course, we already have one, and that's marvellous already. Yet, it > is organised by library and, within each library, by function name: this > organisation means that the manual is mainly used as a reference, or > else, that it ought to be studied from cover to cover, dauntingly. > > The very same material could be organised by topics. Chapters could be > named like "General Help", "Language features", "Data types", "Data > Handling", "Input/Output", "Graphics", "Statistics", and such. The > chapter "Language features", to take one example, could hold sections > like "Expressions", "Statements", "Functions", "Environments", > "Packages", "Execution" and "Debugging". Sections could then hold > current reference pages. References by library and/or by function name > could be stated either in appendices or as a general index at the end.
Have a look at help.start() --> Search Engine & Keywords --> Section "Keywords by Topic". Uwe Ligges > For those who happen to know it, I find the "Emacs Lisp Reference > Manual" to be a good example for organising, in a very usable way, > a comprehensive reference to a flurry of library functions. When one > needs string handling functions, they are likely grouped together in the > manual, and are likely all present. A tutorial, by comparison, usually > presents a subset, or even a tiny subset, of what is available. > > >>Any volunteers? > > > Not me, or at least, not before quite a long while. The overall > organisation of a reference should not be handled by beginners. On the > contrary, it rather requires someone who has comprehensive knowledge of > all the material to be considered. > > Just an idea. A good work plan would be to establish a new structure > for a reference manual, and once competent people (or this community as > a whole) agrees on a structure, to develop mechanical means for > generating a reference manual out of the current material. The > mechanism should likely allow for added glue text, about everywhere > reasonable, and for diagnosing any lone, unreachable page in the current > reference. > ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html