The latest release of R introduces an F#-style pipe operator. Pipes have been available in R for a while, via the magrittr package. However, with the release of R 4.1.0, pipes are supported in base R. The syntax has changed from that used in magrittr. The magrittr pipe operator is %>%. The new base R pipe operator is |>. So, instead of df %>% head() we have df |> head() R 4.1.0 also … [Read more...]
GlaxoSmithKline joins the R Consortium
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has reaffirmed it's commitment to R by joining the R Consortium as a silver member. Andy Nicholls, Senior Director, Head of Statistical Data Sciences at GSK, said [R] will help us make better decisions, faster; to the benefit of patients everywhere. … [Read more...]
COVID-19 modelling
Imperial College have published their COVID-19 modelling code on GitHub. Their modelling has apparently been used in forming UK policy. … [Read more...]
COVID-19 epidemiology with R
Interesting, and timely, article on using R to analyse COVID-19 incidence data collated by John Hopkins University. It makes use of two epidemiology packages. earlyR for estimation of infectiousness, as measured by the reproduction number (R), in the early stages of an outbreak. EpiEstim for estimating the time varying instantaneous reproduction number during epidemics These packages, and … [Read more...]
Is it easier to learn R or Python?
Andy Kirk at Visualising Data ran a Twitter poll about the relative accessibility of R and Python to non-developers. 59% said that R was more accessible. Obviously, the poll is far from scientific, but the comments he received reflect my own experiences of teaching both languages---such as the significance of the RStudio IDE and the tidyverse packages in getting people off the ground. … [Read more...]