Publications by David Smith
In case you missed it: September 2017 roundup
In case you missed them, here are some articles from September of particular interest to R users. The mathpix package converts images of hand-drawn equations to their LaTeX equivalent. R 3.4.2 is released. Applying image featurization to the problem of classifying wood knots in lumber. Microsoft ML Server 9.2, which provides operationalization ...
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A cRossword about R
The members of the R Ladies DC user group put together an R-themed crossword for a recent networking event. It's a fun way to test out your R knowledge. (Click to enlarge, or download a printable version here.) If you get stuck, you can find the answers here or at the link below. And if you'd like to join your local R-Ladies chapter, you can fi...
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R’s remarkable growth
Python has been getting some attention recently for its impressive growth in usage. Since both R and Python are used for data science, I sometimes get asked if R is falling by the wayside, or if R developers should switch course and learn Python. My answer to both questions is no. First, while Python is an excellent general-purpose data science t...
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Tutorial: Azure Data Lake analytics with R
The Azure Data Lake store is an Apache Hadoop file system compatible with HDFS, hosted and managed in the Azure Cloud. You can store and access the data within directly via the API, by connecting the filesystem directly to Azure HDInsight services, or via HDFS-compatible open-source applications. And for data science applications, you can also ...
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A cRyptic crossword with an R twist
Last week's R-themed crossword from R-Ladies DC was popular, so here's another R-related crossword, this time by Barry Rowlingson and published on page 39 of the June 2003 issue of R-news (now known as the R Journal). Unlike the last crossword, this one follows the conventions of a British cryptic crossword: the grid is symmetrical, and eschews ...
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An AI pitches startup ideas
Take a look at this list of 13 hot startups, from a list compiled by Alex Bresler. Perhaps one of them is the next Juicero? FAR ATHERA: A CLINICAL AI PLATFORM THAT CAN BE ACCESSED ON DEMAND. ZAPSY: TRY-AT-HOME SERVICE FOR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS. MADESS: ON-DEMAND ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER. DEERG: AI RADIOLOGIST IN A HOME SPER: THE FASTEST, EASIEST WAY...
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My interview with ROpenSci
The ROpenSci team has started publishing a new series of interviews with the goal of “demystifying the creative and development processes of R community members”. I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Kelly O'Briant earlier this year, and the interview was published on Friday. Thanks for being a great interviewer, Kelly! I'm look...
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Is it faster to take a bike or taxi in NYC?
Taxis are plentiful and convenient in New York City, but the city is also served by a wide network of commuter bicycles (Citi Bikes). If you need to get from, say, the West Village to the Garment District, are you better off time-wise hailing a cab, or heading over to the nearest Citi Bike station? Data scientist Todd W. Schnieder crunched the nu...
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The R manuals in bookdown format
While there are hundreds of excellent books and websites devoted to R, the canonical source of truth regarding the R system remains the R manuals. You can find the manuals at your local CRAN mirror and on your laptop as part of the R distribution (try Help > Manuals in RGui, or Help > R Help in RStudio to find them). Unlike books, the R manuals ...
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An Updated History of R
Here's a refresher on the history of the R project: 1992: R development begins as a research project in Auckland, NZ by Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka 1993: First binary versions of R published at Statlib [see update, below] 1995: R first distributed as open-source software, under GPL2 license 1997: R core group formed 1997: CRAN founded (by ...
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