R programming for Data Science
We all know that the exponential growth of data has resulted in a surge in demand for data scientists.
This necessitates the use of advanced data analytics technologies to aid in the development of data insights. R is a crucial tool for data scientists.
It is extremely popular, and many statisticians and data scientists use it exclusively.
But what is it about R that makes it so popular?
Why and how should you utilize R in your data science projects?
We’ll try to answer your questions and show you the features of R that make it a great language for data science in this article.
Projects for Data Science Beginners »
R programming for Data Science
What is R?
R is a statistical computing programming language that is commonly used by data miners and statisticians for data analysis. Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman created it in 1995, and the term ‘R’ was taken from the first letters of their names.
For statistical computing and graphical approaches, R is a popular choice in data analytics and data science.
In the CRAN repository for R, there are over 10,000 packages. These programs are useful for a wide range of statistical applications.
R has a steep learning curve for beginners. However, while R’s syntax is simple to grasp.
It is a tool for implementing statistical learning that is expressive. As a result, a user who is unfamiliar with statistics may struggle to get the most out of R.
Why did we choose R as our data science programming language?
Data Science is the most popular field in the twenty-first century. It’s because there’s a compelling need to evaluate the data and derive insights from it. Raw data is transformed into finished data products by industries.
To accomplish so, several crucial technologies must be used to churn the raw data. R is a programming language that provides a powerful environment for analyzing, processing, transforming, and visualizing data.
Many statisticians who wish to get involved in creating statistical models to solve complex issues use it as their first choice.
R has a plethora of packages that appeal to a wide range of subjects, including astronomy, biology, and so on. R was originally developed for academic purposes, but it is now also utilized in industry.
R is a powerful programming language that can be used to create complicated statistical models. R also allows you to work with arrays, matrices, and vectors.
R is well-known for its graphical libraries, which allow users to draw appealing graphs and make them inaccessible to them.
R Shiny, which is used for embedding visualizations in web pages and providing a high level of engagement to users, also allows users to construct web applications with R.
Data extraction is also an important aspect of data science. R allows you to connect your R code to database management systems in order to accomplish this.
Furthermore, R gives you a number of complex data analytics choices, such as the creation of prediction models, machine learning algorithms, and so on. R also comes with a number of image processing packages.
Features of R
There are some key elements of R that we should address in order to fully comprehend R’s function in Data Science.
R Programming Language Features
R is an open-source program, which means you can download and edit the code, as well as create your own libraries. It’s also completely free to use.
R is a full language — While R is commonly thought of as a statistical programming language, it also has numerous aspects of an Object-Oriented Programming language.
Analytical support – R has a large number of support libraries that can be used to execute analytical procedures. You can clean, organize, analyze, visualize, and construct predictive models with your data.
Extensions are supported — R allows developers to create their own libraries and packages, which can then be published as add-ons. As a result, R is a developer-friendly language with tools that can be changed and updated.
It comprises many add-on packages that connect R to databases, such as the RODBC package, Open DataBase Connectivity Protocol (ODBC), and the ROracle package, which permits interaction with Oracle databases. RMySQL is a MySQL extension provided by the R programming language.
R has a large and active community, which is further bolstered by the fact that it is an open-source programming language.
R is an excellent choice for many people because of this. R offers a variety of boot camps and workshops all around the world.
R is simple and straightforward to comprehend. While some may say that R has a high learning curve for beginners, this is due to the fact that R is a statistical language.
To get the most out of R, you’ll need to be familiar with statistics. R, on the other hand, has a simple syntax. This makes it easier to recall and comprehend R.
Important Packages of R for Data Science
Packages in R play an important role, let’s check some popular and useful Packages –
ggplot2
R is best known for its ggplot2 visualization library. It offers a visually appealing mix of graphics that are also interactive. Ggplot2 includes a number of enhancements that improve usability and experience.
Tidyr
Tidyr is an R utility for cleaning and organizing your data. Tidyr applies the following two properties to the data:
Each column is regarded as a separate variable.
Every row represents a fact.
To organise your data into rows and columns, use tidyr’s three major functions: gather(), spread(), and separate().
Dplyr
Dplyr is the most important R library for organising, managing, and wrangling data. The fact that dplyr employs a declarative syntax that is easy to remember is a key advantage. Select, alter, filter, mutate, and other actions are made easier with Dplyr.
Why is R Important in Data Science?
The following are some of the most important aspects of R for data science applications:
Dplyr, purrr, readxl, google sheets, datapasta, jsonlite, tidyquant, tidyr, and other R tools for data manipulation are available.
R has a lot of options for statistical modeling. R is a suitable tool for applying various statistical operations to Data Science because it is heavily reliant on statistics.
R is appealing for a variety of data science applications because it has aesthetically pleasing visualization tools such as ggplot2, scatterplot3D, lattice, and high charter.
R is widely used in ETL applications in data science (Extract, Transform, Load). It has a user interface for a variety of databases, including SQL and spreadsheets.
R’s ability to interact with NoSQL databases and analyze unstructured data is another essential feature.
This is particularly beneficial in Data Science applications that require the analysis of a large amount of data.
Data scientists can use R to apply machine learning algorithms to predict future events. Rpart, CARET, randomForest, and nnet are some of the packages available.
Take a look at the most recent data science job openings and the future of the field.
What Makes R Suitable For Data Science?
R is the most widely used programming language among data scientists. The following are some of the most important reasons why they utilize R –
For many years, R has proven to be dependable and valuable in academia. R was traditionally utilized in the academy for research since it included a variety of statistical tools for analysis.
R has been a popular choice in the industry as a result of advances in data science and the necessity to analyze data.
When it comes to data manipulation, R is a fantastic tool. It enables the use of various preprocessed packages, making data manipulation simpler.
This is one of the key reasons why R is so popular among data scientists.
R includes the well-known ggplot2 package, which is well-known for its visualizations. ggplot2 delivers aesthetically pleasing visuals for all data processes.
Furthermore, ggplot2 allows viewers to interact with the data incorporated in the display, allowing them to better comprehend it.
Machine learning packages for numerous processes are available in R. Machine learning provides a wide range of packages, whether it’s for boosting, generating random forests, or doing regression and classification.
Data Science Companies that Use R
The following are some of the most well-known data science firms that use R analysis and statistical modeling
Companies that utilize R in data science
Facebook, Uber, Google, ANZ, Norvatis, IBM etc..
Summary
Finally, we conclude that R is an excellent programming tool for data science analysis. We went through the definition of R in this post, as well as the significance of R in data science.
In addition, we highlighted R’s numerous capabilities and provided an overview of the various sectors that use R for Data Science. You might also be interested in learning the key differences between Data Science and Data Analytics.