Software
Git and Github
The materials for this course are hosted on Github at github.com/jiamingmao/principles-of-economics. Since the course materials are continually updated throughout the semester, it is recommended that you clone this repo, and pull regularly to get updates. You can do this using git on the command line or using a GUI such as Github Desktop.
This tutorial walks you through the steps to do so. If you want to learn more about git and Github, here are some places to start:
R
R is a programming language for statistical computing. Throughout the semester, we will be using R to conduct basic data analysis to help us apply and better understand the principles and theories we learn in class.
Here are some resources to help you start learning R:
- Michonneau, F., The R Class
- Phillips, N., YaRrr! The Pirate’s Guide to R
- Kabacoff, R., Data Visualization with R
To program in R, you need a text editor or an IDE. I recommend RStudio. You can download it here. RStudio is a powerful IDE and supports Git and R markdown. To learn how to use RStudio with Github, see:
- Bryan, J., Happy Git and GitHub for the useR
Once you have a basic command of R, I recommend you read this online book:
- Grolemund, G. and H. Wickham, R for Data Science
Markdown
markdown is a lightweight markup language for writing documents using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, which can then be rendered into html, pdf, and other formats.
In this course, it is recommended that you write your homework and reports in markdown (See why scholars should write in markdown).
There are many editors you can use to write in markdown. For example, you can try the online editor editor.md, or use a general purpose editor such as atom.
Or you can use RStudio. RStudio allows you to write in R markdown – a variant of the markdown language that allows you to include R codes and automatically generate their output. See:
- The official R Markdown documentation
- Xie et al., R Markdown: The Definitive Guide
- Xie et al., R Markdown Cookbook
LaTeX
LaTeX is a markup language for writing technical and scientific documents and is widely used by the scientific community. Using LaTeX, you can easily input mathematics, create tables, graphs, and bibliographies, and make professional-looking presentations.
If you are new to LaTeX, I recommend you start with the WYSIWYM (what you see is what you mean) editor lyx or use the online collaborative editor overleaf.