02-r-basics.qmd

# R Basics {#sec-rbasics}

## Objectives

To provide a targeted introduction to R, for those needing an introduction or a review.

We will cover:

-   core object types (atomic, vectors, lists, complex)
-   detailed survey of characters and "strings"
-   detailed coverage of list types
-   detailed coverage of matrix types
-   introduction to the data.frame
-   output data in the form of a data.frame
-   output data in the form of a plot (ggplot2 object)

The objective is to introduce how these core object types behave, and use them to store basic quantities required in text analysis.

## Methods

The methods are primarily about how to use R, including:

We will build up the basic objects needed for understand the core structures needed in R to hold texts (character), meta-data (data.frame), tokens (lists), dictionaries (lists), and document-feature matrices (matrices).

## Examples

Examples working through the construction of each text object container using the types above.

## Issues

Could have used "tidy" approaches.

Sparsity.

Indexing.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could nest some objects inside others?

## Further Reading

Some resources on R.

## Exercises

Add some here.