The NCEAS R Programming Language Resource Center
These pages present technical documentation selected by the NCEAS Scientific Computing staff for use by NCEAS associates learning and using The R Programming Language in their research activities.
The current page contains links to tutorials covering R Language essentials and recommended by NCEAS Scientific Computing personnel.
*** New ***An excellent set of R programming and analysis tutorials R Ecology and Epidemiology produced by the American Phytopathology Society (APS). Five chapters containing in-depth examples of widely used statistical and spatial analysis methods implemented using R.
The R Language Special Topics page contains links to reports describing specific R Language add-on packages and advanced geospatial and geostatistical analysis methods that incorporate the R Language.
The R FAQ document is a list of questions (with answers) to common introductory R questions (422 kb PDF).
The R Language Short Course page contains links to all course materials.
Click here to read tips on posting good questions to R discussion lists: Posting Guide: How to Ask Good Questions...
Click here to access the R Project newsletter archive
Newsletter Example: The November 2005 R Project Newsletter discusses R spatial analysis data models and methods
PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to get Acrobat
Tutorials and introductory material:
University of Bristol (UK) Statistics Group: R: A Self-Learn Tutorial (160 kb PDF)
The basics of the R session: command lines, R objects, and simple statistical and graphics operations.
Universite Montpellier (FR): R For Beginners (440 kb PDF)
An in-depth R introduction designed for life scientists. A good starting point, strong on R concepts.
The R Development Core Team: An Introduction to R (640 kb PDF)
A comprehensive Introduction to all aspects of the R programming environment, derived from the development teams notes. Strongly Recommended.
Many good R scripting and data handling techniques, gathered from the RHelp list
Peter Adler's R Cheat Sheet (16 kb PDF)
Concise summary of useful R functions compiled by a former NCEAS Postoc and R 'Power User'
Simple R: Using R for Statistics (2180 kb PDF)
Introduction to R designed for use in an introductory college statistics course. Detailed examples of R statistical functions. Recommended.
Handling Text in S-Plus and R (24 kb PDF)
Concise description of R (and Splus) language string handling methods.
R Core Team: R Language and Environment Complete Index(12.1 MB PDF)
A complete (as of January 2006) listing of R Help pages for all R packages. 2445 pages.
R Development Core Team: R Installation and Administration Manual (260 kb PDF)
Describes the installation, administration, and modification of the R software package on various platforms.
R Development Core Team: R Data Import/Export Manual (260 kb PDF)
Describes the data import and export facilities available within the R Core and add-on packages. Good adjunct to the R tutorials.
Detailed introductions to specific R analysis techniques:
Australian National University: R for Data Analysis and Graphics (2194 kb PDF)
Extensive and detailed presentation of R statistical and graphical techniques, from a bioinformatics perspective. Assumes solid introductory R knowledge.">
University of Leeds (UK) The Statistical Language R - Matrices (60 kb PDF)
Concise tutorial introduces matrix calculations useful for statistics. Assumes some R knowledge.
R Development Core Team: Writing R Extensions (550 kb PDF)
Example, designed for programmers wanting to 'extend' R, that demonstrates R add-on package creation.