About the Workshop Series

This workshop series is going to help you use R as a programming environment, allowing you to write more complex, yet clearer data analysis code. We will teach you three fundametal concepts of R programming: functions, classes, and packages.

Functions encapsulate a sequence of computations, allowing you to separate the “what” from the details of “how”. You will learn: – the syntax of R functions – how functions can be reused and composed with your analytic workflows – guidelines for writing clear and reliable code.

Every R object has a class and many have attributes, but this mechanism works quite differently from object-oriented programming in mainstream programming languages. You will learn: • to access specific parts of an object and its attributes, • how the class affects the use of an object and how generic functions, like plot, work with different classes, and • how to create your own generic function. Packages are R’s main method for creating and sharing bundles of related functions, classes, datasets, and help pages.

You will learn:

• the structure of a package,
• how R manages libraries of installed packages,
• how they are used to share both code and analyses, and
• to create your own package and distribute it to other R users.

Workshop 1: Monday, April 24th, 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Workshop 2: Tuesday, April 25th, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Workshop 3: Thursday, April 27th, 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Pre-requisites

“Introduction to R” and “Working with Data” workshop series or equivalent knowledge of R.

Registration

You can register to the workshop series ($36 plus fees). The fee includes 3 sessions, and 6 hours of instruction. Free for ECOSCOPE trainees (to rsvp contact info.ecoscope@ubc.ca). No refunds.