This is not a blog

Here you can watch my most recent vids and occasionally read some additional thoughts on the topics covered. I also just write for fun sometimes, about my world, the times we live in, or whatever else might be keeping me up at night. All very informal.

Stabilizing regression coefficients with the lasso

Machine learning

Sometimes linear regression gives poor results even when the data comes from a linear relationship. I’ll explain why and then show you what you can do about it.

Cross validation

Machine learning

Cross validation is a method for estimating the future performance of a model without relying on a separate holdout set. It’s often used in machine learning for the tuning of hyperparameters.

How to `tidymodels`

Machine learning

tidymodels

Pull up your socks! It’s time to tackle machine learning in R.

Working with factors in R

forcats

R-bloggers

Need to change the ordering of a categorical variable? Update its labels? Create an ‘other’ category? You’ve come to the right place.

Regular expressions for R users

regex

stringr

R-bloggers

Regular expressions let you search and manipulate strings based on patterns rather than just literal matches. This is often straightforward, but when it’s not, watch out!

Understanding the grammar of graphics

Grammar of graphics

ggplot2

How can we efficiently and clearly describe any data visualization, particularly when coding?

Content to support my course, Data Science with R

dplyr

ggplot2

tidyr

This is the place to find data sets and other supporting documents for my YouTube course, Data Science with R, at least until I can build something more permanent.

What is Quarto?

Quarto

I introduce Quarto at the very start of my courses on R. Here’s why.

Getting started with R

RStudio

Looking to get started with R? I’ve got you covered.

How to set up RStudio for success

RStudio

Here are a few of the most important things I have my students do as soon as they open RStudio for the first time.

Why haven’t I covered `tidymodels`?

tidymodels

I get this question from time to time, and with good reason. Here’s the reason, along with thoughts on when I’ll finally take up the challenge.

Discrete probability calculations in R

Probability

R-bloggers

R has built-in functions for all major discrete probability distributions, including the binomial, geometric, negative binomial, hypergeometric, and Poisson. In this post, I’ll show you how to compute probabilities, find quantiles, and generate random values from any of these.

Writing prompts using interpolate()

AI

ellmer

LLMs

I just discovered interpolate(), which is similar but not identical to glue::glue().

Teaching an AI to webscrape using the ellmer package

AI

ellmer

LLMs

Giving Claude access to specific R functions is a powerful technique. Let’s get into the details of how it works.

All about system prompts

AI

ellmer

LLMs

What is a system prompt and why should you care?

Advanced counting

Probability

Can I brag about this title for a sec?

How to show a ggplot to an AI assistant

AI

ellmer

LLMs

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when working with a chatbot.

Can using an LLM for coding be ethical?

AI

LLMs

A short stream-of-consciousness piece about one particular ethical consideration.

Chatting with Claude AI in RStudio using ellmer

AI

ellmer

LLMs

How to establish an Anthropic API key which RStudio can use to communicate with Claude, generally considered to be the best large language model for R.

All about facets

ggplot2

There’s so much more to ggplot2’s faceting system than I knew. This deep-dive includes a lot of personal lessons learned.

Hollywood age gaps and the Bechdel test

Data analysis

Do age gaps between romantic leads in movies help predict whether films will pass the Bechdel test?