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Cornell Carpentries Curriculum: Glossary

Key Points

Introduction to the Workshop
  • We follow The Carpentries Code of Conduct.

  • Our goal is to generate a shareable and reproducible report by the end of the workshop.

  • This lesson content is targeted to absolute beginners with no coding experience.

R for Plotting
  • R is a free programming language used by many for reproducible data analysis.

  • Geometries are the visual elements drawn on data visualizations (lines, points, etc.), and aesthetics are the visual properties of those geometries (color, position, etc.).

  • Use ggplot() and geoms to create data visualizations, and save them using ggsave().

The Unix Shell
  • A shell is a program whose primary purpose is to read commands and run other programs.

  • Tab completion can help you save a lot of time and frustration.

  • The shell’s main advantages are its support for automating repetitive tasks and its capacity to access network machines.

  • Information is stored in files, which are stored in directories (folders).

  • Directories nested in other directories for a directory tree.

  • cd [path] changes the current working directory.

  • ls [path] prints a listing of a specific file or directory.

  • ls lists the current working directory.

  • pwd prints the user’s current working directory.

  • / is the root directory of the whole file system.

  • A relative path specifies a location starting from the current location.

  • An absolute path specifies a location from the root of the file system.

  • Directory names in a path are separated with / on Unix, but \ on Windows.

  • .. means ‘the directory above the current one’; . on its own means ‘the current directory’.

  • cp [old] [new] copies a file.

  • mkdir [path] creates a new directory.

  • mv [old] [new] moves (renames) a file or directory.

  • rm [path] removes (deletes) a file.

  • * matches zero or more characters in a filename.

  • The shell does not have a trash bin — once something is deleted, it’s really gone.

Intro to Git & GitHub
  • Version control is like an unlimited ‘undo’.

  • Version control also allows many people to work in parallel.

R for Data Analysis
  • Package loading is an important first step in preparing an R environment.

  • Data analsyis in R facilitates reproducible research.

  • There are many useful functions in the tidyverse packages that can aid in data analysis.

  • Assessing data source and structure is an important first step in analysis.

  • Preparing data for analysis can take significant effort and planning.

Writing Reports with R Markdown
  • R Markdown is an easy way to create a report that integrates text, code, and figures.

  • Options such as include and echo determine what parts of an R code chunk are included in the R Markdown report.

  • R Markdown can render HTML, PDF, and Microsoft Word outputs.

Conclusion
  • When it comes to trying to figure out how to code something, and debugging, Internet searching is your best friend.

  • There are several resources at Cornell that you can take advantage of if you need help with your code.

  • We didn’t have time to cover all important coding concepts in this workshop, so definitely continue trying to learn more once you get comfortable with the material we covered.

  • There are often packages and tools that you can leverage to perform domain-specific analyses, so search for them!

Glossary

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