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Let’s talk about improving your code! There are many things I wish I had done from the beginning with coding, and now do regularly. I’ll share some insights below to strengthen your code! I will be talking about #rstats but some of these tips are universal
1. Make notes in your code!! # is your friend. Tell yourself really obviously what you are doing. This seems ridiculous in the thick of a coding session, but Future You will be grateful. You might have to come back to this. You might need to send it to someone else.
You might need to explain what you did in a methods section or to an audience. IT MIGHT BE POSTED PUBLICLY WITH A MANUSCRIPT!! So when you are cleaning it up later it is much easier if there are notes explaining what you are doing.
You can also use those notes to show how big (nrow() or length()) or str()) your data object is (or should be) – I can’t tell you how many coding errors I’ve caught where I was losing some chunk of data as I moved through a process.
2. Keep your code clean. Organize chunks of code for each step/dataset. Put spaces between commands and those code chunks. Having code that is easy on the eyes goes a long way for you and anyone else you show it to (people are more likely to help you if your code is clean!)
If you have code you wrote but don't need, delete it or comment it out. Future You will be less confused.
3. Take the time to learn the types of data in #rstats or whatever program you use. Early on, most of your errors are because you can’t use that command on that type of object. You can’t add characters!
4. Look at other people’s code! This isn’t class, you can copy. When you first start, you will completely use someone else’s script, and will just be clicking ‘Run’ and not really understanding what’s happening. Accept that even when you are writing script from scratch ....
... you will be copying and pasting a lot of code: your own from some other project, or code people posted online. That is fine. As an esteemed #epitwitter colleague of mine @malco_barrett once said: “Copying and pasting code is an ancient and honorable practice”
There is lots of code online @github Find people who did something cool and look at their code. Many research papers require authors to post their code. Beyond just using the code this is a great way to learn: how did they solve the problem? What is happening? What would you do?
5. Let go of the idea that there is a “right” way to code things. There is always more than one way. You will find you prefer some ways, and that is fine.
