0.1 Why did I create this resource?

In my experience teaching beginning R learners, the initial reaction of nearly every person trying to learn R is “R is hard!” The steep learning curve is enough to turn away even the most advantaged R learners. For example, I started computer programming in high school, was exposed to R in my undergraduate studies, and went to graduate school for statistics where I taught myself R (with the help of my more experienced R user brother). I had all the advantages when learning R and it was still a daunting task. In Fall 2022, I was part of a weekly professional development group on making math and statistics education accessible and inclusive. We were asked to think about how we could improve accessibility in our own field. My ambition got the better of me and I decided to try tackling one of the least accessible learning experiences I know: learning R. I created this resource to make learning R, which is often exclusive and inaccessible to most audiences, a more accessible and inclusive experience for anyone hoping to learn R.

Note: I created this resource, not to teach people R, but to teach people how to learn R and give them a set of tools to get started.