Introduction
R is a programming language created by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman in 1993. Known for its rich library of statistical and graphical tools, it offers various functionalities such as machine learning algorithms, linear regression, and time series analysis.
In this article, we are going to deal with the best R books, this will help budding programmers to make their way through the promising field of data science.
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List of the Best 7 R Programming Books
Before we start learning R, let’s go through 7 Best R Books for R Programming Language, it is not necessary that you have to pick any one of these books, you can refer to one or more among them. The correct books depend on the topic that you have to study and the content of the book.
1. R in Action
Written By – Robert L. Kabacoff
Latest Edition – Second
Available in Formats – Paperback
Published by – Dreamtech Press
Recommended For – Beginner/Intermediate
Apart from creating and maintaining a handful of informative Quick-R websites, Dr Robert L. Kabacoff has penned down his knowledge of R in various books, such as R in Action. The second edition of the book detailing R contains diverse real-life examples from science, business and technology.
On top of the informative details about real-data science and real-life R-based solutions, it also offers a crash course in statistics. R in Action mainly focuses on strategies that involve deriving sense from incomplete, unstructured, vague, and huge amounts of data.
R in Action also brings out the details representing the graphical capabilities of R for managing, exploring, and solving data visualisation challenges. In the latest edition of the book, a few more chapters have been included that deal with data mining, dynamic report writing, and prediction.
Key points of this book
- Basics of ggplot2
- Data mining
- Data visualisation
- EDA (Exploratory Data Analysis).
- Graphics in R.
-
Machine learning models
2. R for Data Science
Written By – Hadley Wickham and Garrett Gorlemund
Latest Edition – First
Available in Format- Kindle and Paperback
Published By – O’Reilly
Recommended For – Beginner
Hadley Wickham is a remarkable author, his works on R programming and Data Science are noteworthy. The R for Data Science is a complete package for enthusiasts keen on dissecting both data science and R coming from a single source.
The R for Data Science book initiates the concept of data science and implementation of this discipline. Post the early chapters, the book shifts towards leveraging the R platform for performing various data science tasks and operations.
The accredited author of this book – Garrett Grolemund, is one of the Master Instructors at RStudio, goes on to explain the real-life implementation of the synergy between R and data science, in a really captivating way.
Key points of this book
- Data wrangling
- Data visualisation
- Exploratory data analysis
- Fundamentals of R
- Fundamentals of data science
- Implementation of R and data science
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3. The Art of R Programming – A Tour of Statistical Software Design
Written By – Norman Matloff
Latest Edition – First
Available in Format – Kindle and Paperback
Published By – No Starch Press
Recommended For – Beginner
The Art of R Programming by Norman Matloff is another book that has made to the list of the 7 best books for R programming. The author is well-versed in R programming, as he comes from the Department of Computer Science at the University of California and has created several widely used software packages.
On top of R and software development, The Art of R Programming also includes concepts related to object-oriented and functional programming paradigms, complex data rearrangement, and running mathematical simulations.
The Art of R Programming doesn’t come with any pre-requisite statistical knowledge and you can refer to it even if you have low-level/beginner-level competency in R programming. Hence, it is highly recommended for beginners. The R Programming book induces a deep understanding of software development with R.
Key points of this book
- Complex functions
- Data visualisation
- Fundamentals of R
- Statistical programming
-
Statistical software development
4. R Graphics Cookbook: Practical Recipes for Visualizing Data
Written By – Winston Chang
Latest Edition – Second
Available in Format – Kindle and Paperback
Published by – Shroff/O’Reilly
Recommended For – Advanced
The R Graphics Cookbook is authored by Winston Chang, a well-versed software engineer at RStudio. The current R Graphics Cookbook is a modified version of one of his popular early works, the Cookbook for R. It was not a book, rather it was a website with programming details for efficiently managing the common tasks in R.
The R Graphics Cookbook is an excellent reader for learners seeking a book that explains the graphical capabilities of R. It comes with more than 150 illustrations, also known as recipes, used for generating dense graphics using the R platform.
Each recipe deals with a specific problem and its detailed solution. A complete understanding of the so-called recipe is given by going to and fro around the origin of the recipe. The commonly used examples demonstrate the ggplot2 package.
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