Introduction to Data Technologies

by Murrell; Paul

• ISBN13: 9781420065176
• ISBN10: 1420065173
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-23
• Publisher: Chapman & Hall/

Summary

Unique and much requested, this reference provides scientists with a mandatory tutorial on dealing with scientific data as captured by various programming languages, such as HTML, XML, SQL, and PHP. Written by Paul Murrell, the principle developer of the R Project, and based on a university course he teaches, this book presents each of the key technologies and then gives guidance on data handling and processing with each. In addition to chapters containing detailed and historical information, illustrative examples and case studies, Murrell includes entirely separate bare bones chapters for quick reference.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. xv
List of Tables	p. xvii
preface	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
Case study: Point Nemo	p. 1
Writing Computer Code	p. 9
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 11
Syntax	p. 13
HTML syntax	p. 13
Escape sequences	p. 17
Semantics	p. 18
HTML semantics	p. 19
Writing code	p. 21
Text editors	p. 21
Important features of a text editor	p. 21
Layout of code	p. 22
Indenting code	p. 24
Long lines of code	p. 25
Whitespace	p. 26
Documenting code	p. 26
HTML comments	p. 28
Checking code	p. 29
Checking HTML code	p. 29
Reading error information	p. 30
Reading documentation	p. 32
Running code	p. 32
Running HTML code	p. 33
Debugging code	p. 33
The DRY principle	p. 35
Cascading Style Sheets	p. 36
Further reading	p. 41
HTML Reference	p. 43
HTML syntax	p. 43
HTML comments	p. 44
HTML entities	p. 45
HTML semantics	p. 45
Common HTML elements	p. 46
Common HTML attributes	p. 51
Further reading	p. 51
CSS Reference	p. 53
CSS syntax	p. 53
CSS semantics	p. 54
CSS selectors	p. 54
CSS properties	p. 56
Linking CSS to HTML	p. 59
CSS tips	p. 60
Further reading	p. 61
Data Storage	p. 63
Case study: YBC 7289	p. 64
Plain text formats	p. 69
Computer memory	p. 71
Files and formats	p. 71
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 72
Advantages and disadvantages	p. 73
CSV files	p. 76
Line endings	p. 76
Text encodings	p. 78
Case study: The Data Expo	p. 80
Binary formats	p. 83
More on computer memory	p. 84
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 86
NetCDF	p. 87
PDF documents	p. 90
Other types of data	p. 91
Spreadsheets	p. 94
Spreadsheet formats	p. 94
Spreadsheet software	p. 95
Case study: Over the limit	p. 96
XML	p. 99
XML syntax	p. 102
XML design	p. 105
XML schema	p. 110
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 110
Advantages and disadvantages	p. 114
Databases	p. 118
The database data model	p. 119
Database notation	p. 121
Database design	p. 122
Flashback: The DRY principle	p. 132
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 133
Advantages and disadvantages	p. 138
Flashback: Database design and XML design	p. 139
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 139
Database software	p. 141
Further reading	p. 142
XML Reference	p. 145
XML syntax	p. 145
Document Type Definitions	p. 147
Element declarations	p. 148
Attribute declarations	p. 149
Including a DTD	p. 150
An example	p. 151
Further reading	p. 152
Data Queries	p. 153
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 154
Querying databases	p. 158
SQL syntax	p. 159
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 159
Collations	p. 165
Querying several tables: Joins	p. 166
Case study: Commonwealth swimming	p. 166
Cross joins	p. 169
Inner joins	p. 170
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 171
Subqueries	p. 175
Outer joins	p. 176
Case study: Commonwealth swimming (continued)	p. 176
Self joins	p. 179
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 179
Running SQL code	p. 180
Querying XML	p. 182
XPath syntax	p. 182
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 182
Further reading	p. 185
SQL Reference	p. 187
SQL syntax	p. 187
SQL queries	p. 187
Selecting columns	p. 188
Specifying tables: The FROM clause	p. 189
Selecting rows: The WHERE clause	p. 190
Sorting results: The ORDER BY clause	p. 192
Aggregating results: The GROUP BY clause	p. 192
Subqueries	p. 193
Other SQL commands	p. 194
Defining tables	p. 194
Populating tables	p. 195
Modifying data	p. 197
Deleting data	p. 197
Further reading	p. 197
Data Processing	p. 199
Case study: The Population Clock	p. 204
The R environment	p. 214
The command line	p. 214
The workspace	p. 217
Packages	p. 218
The R language	p. 219
Expressions	p. 219
Constant values	p. 219
Arithmetic	p. 220
Conditions	p. 221
Function calls	p. 222
Symbols and assignment	p. 224
Keywords	p. 226
Flashback: Writing for an audience	p. 227
Naming variables	p. 227
Data types and data structures	p. 229
Case study: Counting candy	p. 232
Vectors	p. 234
Factors	p. 237
Data frames	p. 237
Lists	p. 239
Matrices and arrays	p. 241
Flashback: Numbers in computer memory	p. 242
Subsetting	p. 243
Assigning to a subset	p. 250
Subsetting factors	p. 251
More on data structures	p. 252
The recycling rule	p. 252
Type coercion	p. 253
Attributes	p. 256
Classes	p. 259
Dates	p. 261
Formulas	p. 262
Exploring objects	p. 263
Generic functions	p. 264
Data import/export	p. 266
The working directory	p. 267
Specifying files	p. 267
Text formats	p. 268
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 269
Binary formats	p. 275
Spreadsheets	p. 278
XML	p. 280
Databases	p. 284
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 285
Data manipulation	p. 287
Case study: New Zealand schools	p. 287
Transformations	p. 289
Sorting	p. 293
Tables of counts	p. 295
Aggregation	p. 297
Case study: NCEA	p. 302
The "apply" functions	p. 304
Merging	p. 309
Flashback: Database joins	p. 312
Splitting	p. 312
Reshaping	p. 314
Case study: Utilities	p. 318
Text processing	p. 326
Case study: The longest placename	p. 326
Regular expressions	p. 333
Cage study: Rusty wheat	p. 335
Data display	p. 343
Case study: Point Nemo (continued)	p. 343
Converting to text	p. 345
Results for reports	p. 348
Programming	p. 351
Case study: The Data Expo (continued)	p. 352
Control flow	p. 554
Writing functions	p. 356
Flashback: Writing functions, waiting code, and the DRY principle	p. 359
Flashback: Debugging	p. 360
Other software	p. 361
R Reference	p. 365
R syntax	p. 365
Constants	p. 365
Arithmetic operators	p. 366
Logical operators	p. 366
Function calls	p. 366
Symbols and assignment	p. 367
Loops	p. 367
Conditional expressions	p. 368
Data types and data structures	p. 368
Functions	p. 369
Session management	p. 370
Generating vectors	p. 370
Numeric functions	p. 371
Comparisons	p. 372
Type coercion	p. 373
Exploring data structures373
Subsetting	p. 374
Data import/export	p. 375
Transformations	p. 378
Sorting	p. 379
Tables of counts	p. 379
Aggregation	p. 380
The "apply" functions	p. 380
Merging	p. 381
Splitting	p. 382
Reshaping	p. 382
Text processing	p. 384
Data display	p. 385
Debugging	p. 386
Getting help	p. 386
Packages	p. 388
Searching for functions	p. 389
Further reading	p. 390
Regular Expressions Reference	p. 391
Literals	p. 391
Metacharacters	p. 392
Character sets	p. 392
Anchors	p. 393
Alternation	p. 394
Repetitions	p. 395
Grouping	p. 396
Backreferences	p. 396
Further reading	p. 397
Conclusion	p. 399
Attributions	p. 401
Bibliography	p. 403
Index	p. 407
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