Week 2 Notes - Course Introduction

Key Concepts Learned

• GitHub, Quarto, R, RStudio Projects
• Git fundamentals: repo, commit, push, pull
• tidyverse & dplyr basics: select(), filter(), mutate(), group_by(), summarize(), pipes (%>%)

Coding Techniques

• Used the Terminal in RStudio to type quarto render and build the portfolio website locally
• Noticed how Git is integrated in RStudio: see changes, commit, and then push through GitHub Desktop
• Practiced using dplyr functions like select(), filter(), and mutate()
• Learned that group_by() and summarize() go together — group prepares the data, summarize gives the actual stats
• Started using the pipe operator %>% (“take this, then do that…”)

Questions & Challenges

• YAML formatting is pretty strict, I used Chatgpt to help fix my mistakes
• The Git workflow still feels a bit confusing, not always sure when to pull and when to push

Connections to Policy

• Not Yet

Reflection

• Learned how to set up a portfolio website using Quarto and GitHub
• Got familiar with basic Git commands and workflow