Comments for Michael Milton's Blog

Comment on When to use Excel, when to use R? by Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Thank you for the comment Tom! Have you tried RStudio yet? I switched from Terminal to RStudio and have really been enjoying it.

Comment on When to use Excel, when to use R? by Tom Martin

Tom Martin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:44:00 +0000

I’ve been using spreadsheets ever since desktop computers were a curiosity rather than necessity, doing data graphics since the days of pen and ink, and teaching biostatistics to students of varied technical backgrounds for the last two decades. I used SAS in my stat classes up until about 5 years ago when I switched to R exclusively. The learning curve for using SAS and R is almost the same and the capabilities for statistics are very similar. But, SAS is head and shoulders easier for data manipulation while R is head and shoulders better for graphics. So, I now have my students use a spreadsheet program (usually Excel, but some opt for open source) for ease of data entry and manipulation in conjunction with the Rcmdr package for R. We use R for ALL graphics and statistical heavy lifting. Excel graphics are almost altogether not publication quality and any summarization that needs to be done over replicate groupings is relatively cumbersome. The biggest downfall to using R was lack of appropriate-level, consistent-quality, documentation. Thanks to O’Reilly and folks like you for helping fill that void! I do differ with you on using Excel for data presentation — I go to Word or some other word-processing or desktop publishing software where I have more control over table formatting.

Comment on Resigning from a nonprofit in protest and the Greg Mortenson controversy by Sara Leutzinger

Sara Leutzinger — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:51:00 +0000

There is something to the phrase ‘don’t leave a sinking ship’…but I saw this too and agree with you…I don’t think I could say I wouldn’t also abandon ship-

Comment on When to use Excel, when to use R? by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:40:00 +0000

Not that I’m aware of! I am not aware of there being many users in our industry (I’m a fundraiser too). What are you looking to do with R?

Comment on When to use Excel, when to use R? by BobH

BobH — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:54:00 +0000

Are there any tutorials for using R to do fundraising analytics?

Comment on How to use Excel to compare two versions of a legal contract by excel

excel — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:56:00 +0000

Change-Pro for Excel enables business users to compare two Excel documents for changes.
With Change-Pro for Excel’ s patent-pending technology, you can view changes made to Excel values and Excel formulas,
along with comparing row and column changes in spreadsheets.

excel compare

Comment on Four ways that writing Head First has blown my mind by — Business Applications Systems

— Business Applications Systems — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:07:20 +0000

[...] at O’Reilly publishing have developed a corporate culture and editorial policies that treats images as tools for thinking [...]

Comment on Four ways that writing Head First has blown my mind by Blogging, In Groups

Blogging, In Groups — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:57:56 +0000

[...] at O’Reilly publishing have developed a corporate culture and editorial policies that treats images as tools for thinking [...]

Comment on Are you saving the world with R? by Tweets that mention Are you saving the world with R? | Michael Milton's Blog -- Topsy.com

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:47:30 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Milton, Marck Vaisman. Marck Vaisman said: Share thoughts for Michael's talk #dc #meetup @pawcon RT @michaelmilton: Are you saving the world with R? #rstats http://ping.fm/PjPRA #in [...]

Comment on When to use Excel, when to use R? by medical Technologist

medical Technologist — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:01:21 +0000

Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article