Tips for Learning R

For someone who has messed around with datacamp's online tutorials, but has not really seen the lessons "stick" any recommendations for a novice on resources to learn R? Applications would mostly be time series/econometrics focused. Any views on textbooks vs. applied tutorials? Assume some knowledge of basics but weak programming background

Thanks in advance

 

Had to do quite a bit of R for econometrics/statistical learning classes. I suggest reading a primer on how to get started but besides that, don’t use classes just try some project. Try running some simple regressions and then maybe test some CAPM or other models. You’ll really quickly run into the quirks of R (hassle of reading a csv for beginners, as.date types). much better use of time imo than taking a class that won’t be tailored for you. google is a great resource and most packages have easily available materials

 

Wickham is legendary within the data science circles, especially for data visualization and wrangling. Don't have too much on primers per se but these are the textbooks I've used in the past. Introduction to Econometrics by Wooldridge, Econometric Modelling of Financial Time Series by Mills and Markellos. Those aren't specific to R though and won't help you with that aspect. Elements of Statistical Learning and Modern Data Science with R are great books that guide you through R but they focus more on statistical learning and data science rather than pure econometrics

 

My opinion is that when you are new to programming but are familiar with math, finance or a similar subject, R is the easiest language to pick up. I attempted unsuccessfully to learn programming with a couple languages before I came upon R. The syntax of some languages makes them difficult for beginners but the programming fundamentals are the same across languages. After getting comfortable with the basics you can go onto other languages pretty quickly. Just at the beginning I would advise to go the path of least resistance.

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You have to find the right learning technique for you. Some people learn better with books, others with video lectures or self-guided projects. I was able to pick up R very fast with the task-based approach Datacamp uses. I used it extensively for about half a year. But now that I'm more familiar with programming I find it too simple and not engaging enough. So I'm more interested in video lectures and self-guided projects.

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Head to reddit and check out some forms relating to learning R. I'm sure there are plenty of them around. Also check out coursera and see if they have a learn R course. Right now you're too specific as to what you want to apply R for. First learn the fundamentals and the basic syntax of the language. Then move on to doing small projects. Programming is learned like math, through tons of trail and error.

 

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