The latest update of my book includes a chapter on lists. This chapter explores the list data type and how to effectively use it as a general purpose data structure. We also look at the mechanics of do.call and its relationship with lists. The latter half of the chapter transitions to practical applications. Not only do we continue the ebola situation report example, based on the ebola.sitrep package, we also implement random forests and the binomial asset pricing model using lists.

The table of contents is also updated to reflect the remaining chapters in the book. As usual, feedback and comments are welcome. I’m mostly interested in conceptual issues, although grammatical and typographical issues are also fair game.

Rowe – Modeling data with functional programming in R