Programming with R

The best way to learn how to program is to do something useful, so this introduction to R is built around a common scientific task: data analysis.

Our real goal isn't to teach you R, but to teach you the basic concepts that all programming depends on. We use R in our lessons because:

1. we have to use something for examples;
2. it's free, well-documented, and runs almost everywhere; and
3. it has a large (and growing) user base among scientists.

But the two most important things are to use whatever language your colleagues are using, so that you can share you work with them easily, and to use that language well.