Troubleshooting & DebuggingBora Jin1 / 12

Material

📖 Read How to read an R help page (Section A.1.1)

2 / 12

Today's Goal

Learn troubleshooting strategies
Practice debugging some common errors

"Each time you figure out the solution to your problem, you acquire more and more knowledge about how and why things go wrong, and more confidence about how to tackle the next glitch that comes along." - from today's material

3 / 12

Quiz

Functions take inputs, perform actions, and return outputs.

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on how to use the function?

4 / 12

Quiz

Functions take inputs, perform actions, and return outputs.

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on how to use the function?

Usage

4 / 12

Quiz

Functions take inputs, perform actions, and return outputs.

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on how to use the function?

Usage

function's name
named arguments in () in the order the function expects the arguments
some arguments come with default values
but you must specify values for arguments without default values

4 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

Arguments

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

Arguments

detailed information on each argument
it tells you the class of inputs that the function expects

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

Arguments

detailed information on each argument
it tells you the class of inputs that the function expects

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on actions?

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

Arguments

detailed information on each argument
it tells you the class of inputs that the function expects

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on actions?

Description or title

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on inputs?

Arguments

detailed information on each argument
it tells you the class of inputs that the function expects

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on actions?

Description or title

describes what the function does

5 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on outputs?

6 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on outputs?

Value

6 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on outputs?

Value

function's output in the order the function returns values
can be a single number, a list with multiple objects, a data frame, a plot, or a model

6 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

7 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

Examples

7 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

Examples

simple and quick-to-run examples to help you understand how to use the function and what to use it on

7 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

Examples

simple and quick-to-run examples to help you understand how to use the function and what to use it on

Q - What if we want to learn more about the package as a whole, rather than a few specific functions?

7 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

Examples

simple and quick-to-run examples to help you understand how to use the function and what to use it on

Q - What if we want to learn more about the package as a whole, rather than a few specific functions?

Demos and Vignettes

7 / 12

Quiz

Q - In an R help page, which sections do we read for information on examples?

Examples

simple and quick-to-run examples to help you understand how to use the function and what to use it on

Q - What if we want to learn more about the package as a whole, rather than a few specific functions?

Demos and Vignettes

you may google directly the package name
or click the link at the end of the help page to visit the package's index page

7 / 12

Example

?qnorm

8 / 12

Example

?qnorm

?lm

8 / 12

Example

qnorm(0.5) # default values

## [1] 0

9 / 12

Example

qnorm(0.5) # default values

## [1] 0

qnorm(0.5, 2, 1) # in default order

## [1] 2

9 / 12

Example

qnorm(0.5) # default values

## [1] 0

qnorm(0.5, 2, 1) # in default order

## [1] 2

qnorm(0.5, 1, 2) # mean and sd values swapped

## [1] 1

9 / 12

Example

qnorm(0.5) # default values

## [1] 0

qnorm(0.5, 2, 1) # in default order

## [1] 2

qnorm(0.5, 1, 2) # mean and sd values swapped

## [1] 1

qnorm(0.5, sd = 1, mean = 2) # mean and sd order swapped but same as qnorm(0.5, 2, 1)

## [1] 2

9 / 12

Questions?

10 / 12

Let's Practice Together!

Go to AE 09: R Errors, Troubleshooting, and Getting Help

11 / 12

Bulletin

Watch videos for Prepare: May 25
HW 01 due tonight at 11:59pm
Submit your ae08 and ae09

12 / 12

↑, ←, Pg Up, k	Go to previous slide
↓, →, Pg Dn, Space, j	Go to next slide
Home	Go to first slide
End	Go to last slide
Number + Return	Go to specific slide
b / m / f	Toggle blackout / mirrored / fullscreen mode
c	Clone slideshow
p	Toggle presenter mode
t	Restart the presentation timer
?, h	Toggle this help