Updated below

The R Function Reference is a mind map that I created as a guide for novice and intermediate users of the R statistics language. When you first open it, I suggest that you collapse all the nodes by clicking on the “Expand/Collapse all nodes” button in the bottom left of the screen to make the map easier to navigate. You can also adjust the zoom level with the slider next to that button.

The top-level nodes of the R Function Reference

The mind map is arranged in eight sections, or main branches, arranged by task. What do you want to do? Each branch covers a general set tasks, such as learning to use R, running R, working with data, statistical analysis or plotting data. The end of each string of nodes is generally a function and example. The Reference provides code fragments, rather than details of the function or complete reproducible code blocks. Once you’ve followed the Reference and have an idea of how to accomplish something, you can look up the details in R’s help system (e.g. “?read.csv” to learn more about using the read.csv() function), or search Google or the online R-Help mailing list archives for answers using the function name.

There are a lot of useful nodes and examples, especially in the “Graphs” section, but the mind map is not complete; some trails end before you get to a useful function reference. I am sorry for that, but it’s a work in progress, and will be slowly updated over time.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Update 1

In comments, several users reported problems opening the mind map. With a little investigation, it appears that the size of the mind map is the problem. To try to fix the problems , I have split the mind map out into several small mind maps, all linked together.

The new main mind map is the R Function Reference, Main. The larger branches on this main map no longer expand to their own content, but contain a link to a “child” mind map. The link looks like a sheet of paper with an arrow pointing to the right, click on it and little cartoon speech bubble will pop up with a link that you have to click on to go to the child mind map. Likewise, the central nodes on the child mind maps contain a link back to the main mind map.

Due to load times and the required extra clicks, this may slightly reduce usability for users who didn’t have a problem with the all-in-one version, but will hopefully make the mind map accessible to a broader audience.

I have to offer praise to the developers of Mind42. Though I couldn’t directly split branches off into their own mind maps or duplicate the mind map, it was very easy to export the mind map as a native Mind42 file and then import it multiple times, editing the copies without any loss of data or links. The ability to link directly between mind maps within Mind42 was also a key enabling feature. Considering that this is a free web app, its capabilities are most impressive. They were also quick to respond when I posted a call for help on the Mind42 forum.

Please let me know how the new, “improved” version works.

The old mind map, containing everything, is still available, but I will not update it.