Coding in R

Coding in R is easy and fun. It’s wonderful. It’s delightful. It’s a powerful tool for everyone to enjoy.

Except when it’s like kicking a wall… but don’t despair; in the wall, there’s a door—there’s hope!—and on the other side of the door is a wonderful, delightful, powerful world where anything is possible. All you have to do is find the key. The key to unlock the door.

Except you can’t find the hole on the lock of the door—the metal smooth against your finger tips—and you only have so many keys, or at least it’s not clear which keys you do have that might fit the lock, or where you might look to find more keys. And you’ve never even seen a key in your life. How would you even know where to get started opening this door?

So you do end up kicking the door quite a bit. Like really, really kicking it. Sometimes you’re kicking the door until your leg is a stump. Like your foot is completely gone because you’ve bludgeoned it so thoroughly against this door… but once you get through the door, it’s really great.

Except there’s also this thing where the door you found one day might not be there the next day, or you can’t remember how to unlock that stupid door. Or the lock changes because the room changes, or the door shifts along the wall and it’s location is indistinct; the outline of the white door flush against the smooth white wall that stretches on for eternity… but that’s okay because sometimes you might find a ladder to climb up the wall. Or if you stretch really tall you can peer over the wall and steal a look at the other side. Sneak a look at the delightful, wonderful place where anything is possible.

Except, of course, when your ladder is broken. Or when your legs are both stumps thanks to you kicking the door. Or when the wall grows much higher—infinitely higher—just as you’re stretching for the top of it. So you can’t see over the wall. And your head is sore from smashing it against the wall on account of your legs getting tired and already being bludgeoned to stumps… but no matter because you can open the door. You can open the door. All you have to do is find the key. The key to the door. Then coding in R is easy and fun.