Skip to main content

Introduction to Writing Functions in R

4.6+
23 reviews
Beginner

Take your R skills up a notch by learning to write efficient, reusable functions.

Start Course for Free
4 Hours14 Videos52 Exercises37,076 Learners

Create Your Free Account

GoogleLinkedInFacebook

or

By continuing, you accept our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and that your data is stored in the USA.

Loved by learners at thousands of companies

Course Description

Being able to write your own functions makes your analyses more readable, with fewer errors, and more reusable from project to project. Function writing will increase your productivity more than any other skill! In this course you'll learn the basics of function writing, focusing on the arguments going into the function and the return values. You'll be writing useful data science functions, and using real-world data on Wyoming tourism, stock price/earnings ratios, and grain yields.
  1. 1

    How to Write a Function

    Free

    Learn why writing your own functions is useful, how to convert a script into a function, and what order you should include the arguments.

    Play Chapter Now
    Why you should use functions
    50 xp
    Calling functions
    100 xp
    The benefits of writing functions
    50 xp
    Converting scripts into functions
    50 xp
    Converting a script to a function
    100 xp
    Your first function: tossing a coin
    100 xp
    Inputs to functions
    100 xp
    Multiple inputs to functions
    100 xp
    Y kant I reed ur code?
    50 xp
    Data or detail?
    100 xp
    Renaming GLM
    100 xp
  2. 2

    All About Arguments

    Learn how to set defaults for arguments, how to pass arguments between functions, and how to check that users specified arguments correctly.

    Play Chapter Now
    Default arguments
    50 xp
    Numeric defaults
    100 xp
    Logical defaults
    100 xp
    NULL defaults
    100 xp
    Categorical defaults
    100 xp
    Passing arguments between functions
    50 xp
    Harmonic mean
    100 xp
    Dealing with missing values
    100 xp
    Passing arguments with ...
    100 xp
    Checking arguments
    50 xp
    Throwing errors with bad arguments
    100 xp
    Custom error logic
    100 xp
    Fixing function arguments
    100 xp
  3. 3

    Return Values and Scope

    Learn how to return early from a function, how to return multiple values, and understand how R decides which variables exist.

    Play Chapter Now
    Returning values from functions
    50 xp
    Returning early
    100 xp
    Returning invisibly
    100 xp
    Returning multiple values from functions
    50 xp
    Returning many things
    100 xp
    Returning metadata
    100 xp
    Environments
    50 xp
    Creating and exploring environments
    100 xp
    Do variables exist?
    100 xp
    Scope and precedence
    50 xp
    Can a function find its variables?
    100 xp
    Can you access variables from inside functions?
    100 xp
    Variable precedence 1
    50 xp
    Variable precedence 2
    50 xp
  4. 4

    Case Study on Grain Yields

    Apply your function writing skills to a case study involving data preparation, visualization, and modeling.

    Play Chapter Now
    Grain yields and unit conversion
    50 xp
    Converting areas to metric 1
    100 xp
    Converting areas to metric 2
    100 xp
    Converting yields to metric
    100 xp
    Applying the unit conversion
    100 xp
    Visualizing grain yields
    50 xp
    Plotting yields over time
    100 xp
    A nation divided
    100 xp
    Plotting yields over time by region
    100 xp
    Modeling grain yields
    50 xp
    Running a model
    100 xp
    Making yield predictions
    100 xp
    Do it all over again
    100 xp
    Congratulations
    50 xp

In the following tracks

Data Scientist with RData Scientist Professional with RR ProgrammerR Programming

Datasets

Snake River visitsStandard & Poor 500 price/earnings ratiosNASS corn yieldsNASS wheat yieldsNASS barley yields

Collaborators

Marianna Lamnina

Prerequisites

Introduction to the TidyverseIntermediate R
Richie Cotton HeadshotRichie Cotton

Data Evangelist at DataCamp

Richie is a Data Evangelist at DataCamp. He has been using R since 2004, in the fields of proteomics, debt collection, and chemical health and safety. He has released almost 30 R packages on CRAN and Bioconductor – most famously the assertive suite of packages – as well as creating and contributing to many others. He also has written two books on R programming, Learning R and Testing R Code.
See More

Don’t just take our word for it

*4.6
from 23 reviews
78%
17%
0%
4%
0%
Sort by
  • Carlos A.
    3 months

    con mucha facilidad lo comprendi, muy buen curso

  • Nicolas F.
    4 months

    I benefitted so much from this training. This was a weak area for me and I feel so much more confident.

  • Kaisar B.
    4 months

    All good

  • Aaron P.
    4 months

    Very clear instructions with examples to solidify knowledge

  • Edwin A.
    5 months

    This is a recommended introductory course to learn writing function in R.

    • Loading ...

"con mucha facilidad lo comprendi, muy buen curso"

Carlos A.

"I benefitted so much from this training. This was a weak area for me and I feel so much more confident."

Nicolas F.

"All good"

Kaisar B.

Join over 11 million learners and start Introduction to Writing Functions in R today!

Create Your Free Account

GoogleLinkedInFacebook

or

By continuing, you accept our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and that your data is stored in the USA.