Thromigal's Blog

I write many R functions for my own use and for use in class. I have been making these functions available from a web page for some time, and finally decided to just post a simple example to make it easy for others to do the same. This is just an example based on the "Rcgi" package from David Firth, and for full details of using R with CGI, see http://www.omegahat.org/CGIwithR/ . Download the document on using R with CGI. It’s titled “CGIwithR: Facilities for Processing Web Forms with R”. Of course, if you don't have R at all, then download R and install it from http://www.r-project.org/ . Then use the R package manager to install the Rcgi package. You need two program files to get everything working. (a) The html file that is the web form for input data. (b) The R file, with special tags for use with the CGIwithR package. Our example will be simple, i.e., a calculator to work out the monthly payment on a standard fixed rate mortgage. The three inputs are the loan princip...

The world is becoming ever more asynchronous. We do many things together, but this has become increasingly likely to be done at arms length. Face to face meetings have become less likely. Even worse, instead of talking on the phone, an email often suffices. Everything has become asynchronous. Truth be told, we probably like it this way! There are examples everywhere. Instead of playing cards by sitting around a table, we now play internet poker. The same is true of chess, which is not only online but asynchronous, yours truly being a shining example of succumbing to this phenomenon. Instead of the phone, we send emails. Even TV watching, which used to be a joint family past time is now relegated to individual laptops in separate rooms. Instead of the entire nation watching a TV program at the same time, DVR technology has ensured that we all watch it on our own time. Even sports is watched with time delay in so many locations. But making it convenient to consume entertainment has made ...