This topic was originally a reply in "Plotly: set_credentials_file("your user name" "your credentials) does not work" @EconomiCurtis
I wouldn’t modify things, unless some people were running into similar “newbie” issues. I have somehow gotten past these issues and have moved on to other ones in the “Chinese box” (a box within a box within a box, etc.).
One thing that I pay careful attention to: “Is a given community inviting or is it just hype?” I have found that the R and RStudio community is very inviting based on my limited experiences. It is more important for someone to give an answer rather than the correct answer.
One thing I am interested in: I am not a developer, but I have spent many years “around” s/w development from my many years of experience at Nortel as a Unix Sys Admin and eventually, the manager of Unix Sys Admin. I bring this up because I am not a complete “newbie” but I come from a slightly different background and most of what I know will end up being translated into the Leprechaun language which is unix (now linux). I’ve heard it said that there are 100 difficult ways to do anything you want in unix(linux) and all 100 of them roughly equivalent in difficulty and robustness. I am at about the same level on any package (the very beginning), but I’ve very tentatively chosen R/RStudio, mainly because of the history and folklore surrounding R. Other contenders are Ruby (on Rails), Python, C++, Perl, etc. The criteria I use is:
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How long before I can do powerful things easily?
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Is “code re-use” built into the language?
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How does it relate to databases? Which ones are in use or popular?
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Does it have a known history and associated culture surrounding it?
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(Most important) How about the community? Would I be proud of being associated with the members of the community? Since you become like the others that you hang around with, will being a member of this community be a source of pride or shame?
Mike Mazarick