GUI's for teaching
At 14:47 26/06/02 -0700, Marc Feldesman wrote:
Beginners I've taught seem to have more difficulty figuring out which function(s) to use to accomplish a particular task than actually figuring out how to use R (or S-Plus) from the command line. They also have difficulty remembering the arguments to specific functions once they figure out which ones to use. The first problem might be resolved by a more fully cross-referenced help system (the help system is great for experienced users, but hard if you don't actually know the name of the function you're looking for). The second problem might be aided by adding code-completion to the UI - something ESS already does for many packages and libraries.
Yes, that is why I insisted more on R's help system in the last version of "R for beginners". (BTW, a revised English version is now available on my home page, see link below, comments are welcome of course, I will send it soon to CRAN). I think how to use the help system is one of the few things that are good to know before starting. A nice way to learn R may be to run it and browse the help in html format: the "See Also"-section has hyperlinks from one help page to the others. I believe the help pages have all what people would like to see in a GUI. Emmanuel Paradis http://www.isem.univ-montp2.fr/ISEMFre/Equipes/PPP/PPerso/Paradis.php
I think if these two areas could be addressed, beginners might be less daunted by R/S learning curve. My $0.01 (US). -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
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