Why "Non-Programmers" Will Dominate Business In 2017

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## DON'T PANIC!! Take a deep breath... 

## What you're looking at is computer code written in R.

## If you're the type of person who steers clear of anything programming

## this article is for you!

## Yeah, you... I know I caught you off guard...

## You're probably on your phone. So walk to the nearest

## computer and let's get going.

## 

## To answer your first question, those "#"s to the left and at the top

## are characters that tell the computer that the text that follows will be

## ignored. They allow me to type whatever I want without worrying that

## the computer will do something crazy... 

## Like... COMPUTER, DELETE ALL OF MY FILES........... 

## Take another deep breath, absolutely nothing can happen until you put

## this text into R and let it crunch away. And even then, you're safe.

##

## OK, now that you know what you're getting yourself into, 

## let me add a nice title to the project.

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## 

## Project: R Tutorial For Beginners

## Created By: Kurt Boden

## Date: 20170113

## 

## Description: 

## Quick code-interactive R tutorial for people who:

##   -have never done any programming.

##   -want to enhance their resume.

##   -want to automate some annoying tasks.

##

## This is intended for people of every background.

## DON'T BE INTIMIDATED!!!! This will be fun.

##

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##

## SECTION 1: Installing R

##

## If you already have R installed, then you can move to SECTION 2.

## If you don't, here's how to do it.

## 

## It's a pretty straightforward process.

## Just paste the link below into your browser.

## Notes before you begin:

## If you're running windows, use the 

## sections "Installing R on Windows" and "Installing RStudio"

## and ignore everything else. (Or read it... that's cool too.)

## If you're using Mac OS, use "Installing R on Mac OS X" and "Installing RStudio"

## and ignore everything else. (Again, read what you want, it's your life.)

## If you're running something else... you're way too lame to need this tutorial...

## Note: I have you install RStudio because it simplifies a lot of stuff later.

## OK, here's the link:

## https://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox/Courses/R/ICPSR/R-install-instructions.html

## 

## Congrats! That was way easier than you thought, right?

## Or you're reading ahead...

## Just go back and do it. It's worth it.

##

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##

## SECTION 2: RStudio Basics

##

## Welcome to RStudio!

## If you've made it this far, you are ahead of about 95% of your competition!

## CONGRATS!!

##

## To simplify this tutorial, copy and paste all of the text from this 

## article into RStudio.

## If you don't have an R Script open, open RStudio and go to

## the icon in the upper left (with the green plus sign) and select "R Script".

## (I think if I direct you to that icon, it will be the same for Mac and Windows.)

## (I should probably be saying, go to File>>New File>>R Script... but... 

## you get it.)

## Now you can copy all of the text from this article into your script.

##

## Everything will look a little different here...

## The basic settings in R will color all of the text to this point green.

## In programming jargon, these are called "comments". It's good to

## put these into your code every now and then to remind you

## how or why you did something. It's also helpful if you have to pass

## your code to someone else.

## You get it... I know... Just want to make sure... moving on.......

##

## OK, get ready to run your first line of code!

## Below is a print statement. This tells the computer to

## print whatever you put in the parantheses.

## Right now, all we have is ''

## To run the code in the line below, select the line and

## click "Run" in the upper right of this window. (It has the little green arrow.)

print('')

## Now look at the output in the bottom window.

## **Slow Clap** Great job!

## A blank line is pretty boring though... your computer is cooler than that.

## Next let's look at what badass programmers run... just run the code below.

print('Hello, World!')

## Look at the output in the bottom window again.

## **Claps Louder**

## Note: You are now a programmer. Congrats!

## (Google "Hello World" when you get a chance... but not now! Let's move on.)

## Next, I want you to write a statement below and have R print it. 

## Maybe shoot for an introduction. Tell R to print

## "Hi my name is, ..." (to complete the introduction)

## Your statement should look something like this:

## print("Hi my name is, Kurt!")

## **APPLAUSE** You're on your way!

############## Errors in R ####################

## R, or any computer today for the most part, is pretty dumb.

## You need to tell it exactly what you want it to do.

## You have to be a little patient...

## Take a look at the next statement.

print(Hello, World!)

## If you ran the code above, you got an error message:

## Error: unexpected '!' in "print(Hello, World!"

## R doesn't know what you want it to do unless you put quotes

## around the sentence. We'll cover data types later

## just wanted to throw this out there

## Now fix the code above or RStudio will give you errors below.

## Or just delete the print statement... again, it's your life...

###############################################

## OK, now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let's get mathy!

5+5

5-5

5*5

5/5

## As you can see, the code above is addition, subtraction, 

## multiplication and division respectively.

## These are good to know but it's nothing too sexy yet.

## OK, here's a quick math test.

## Below, replace the "x"s to produce the number to the right.

x/4 ## = 1

x*5 ## = 20

x-1 ## = 3

x+18 ## = 22

## Run the code to check your answers.

## Amazing Work! I see greatness in you! Keep it up!!

## Note: The #s above comment out what follows (ie the "=...")

## so you don't have to worry about it messing up your 

## precious code. ## Thank ## You ## Comments #########

## Now let's see if we can make this easier.

## Take your input value from above (((shhhh, it's 4)))

## and put it to the right of the "=" on the next line

x =

  

## It should look like this "x = 4". Make sure to run the code above.

## Instead of using the "=", you could also use an arrow "<-"

## but I think the equal sign makes it easier to think about.

## You just defined your first variable! This is the essence of all programming.

## Let the computer remember all of those little annoying things that

## a night of heavy drinking will make you forget.

## Or... um... a night where you do a lot of wholesome stuff.*

## Nah, we'll stick with the drinking. And we'll move on.

## I'm not funny.

  

## Note: When creating a variable, put the variable to the left of the

## "=" and the value you want it to hold to the right.

## Also, look in the upper right of the window. Do you see your 

## newly defined variable?

  

## You remember that variable that we created above? x?

## Let's see what we can do with it.

x

x/4

x*5

x-1

x+18

## Run the code above (if you still aren't thinking for yourself)

## That really simplifies things, doesn't it? It's just the beginning!!

## Let's try another variable.

## "y" seems like a good choice. I'll let you choose the value.

## (Make it any number.)

y =

  

## After you choose "y", make sure you run the code.

## The computer doesn't know what "y" is until you tell it.

  

## Now let's see what happens when we bring x and y together.

  

x * y

x + y

x - y

x / y

## I really hope you didn't set y = zero...

## Please say you didn't choose zero...

## I know you did...

## #Curiosity

## (If you didn't, and you aren't curious, I encourage you to move on.)

## (Because you are no fun.)

## If you want to see what happens, go back and define y as zero.

## Which output looks strange and why? (Sometimes R is smart.)

## Moving along. What else can we store in our variables (x and y)?

## Let's try a string.

z <- "Kurt Boden is the world's greatest human."

print(z)

## QUESTION: What happens when we put quotes around z in the print statement?

## (It prints the string "z" rather than the variable z.)

## Just keep remembering that R is dumb...

zed <- "You are regretting doing this tutorial."

print(zed)

## It's almost over! Haha

## Run the next line

kurtisthebest <- 5

## Now print your new variable below

## Note: There are few restriction when it comes to making a variable.

## Just try not to define things like "+" as a variable.

## Or something like the number 4.

## Early on maybe just stick with x's and y's.

## Also, you just typed "kurtisthebest" into the print statement.

## I'm somewhere out there smiling to myself. : )

## OK, I think that is all for the first lesson. I hope you had fun!

## Really, getting this thing installed is the hardest part.

## Keep an eye out for the next installment!

## To let me know that you're looking forward to the next lesson,

## please go back to the post on LinkedIn and click Like.

## See you soon!

## KMB