Hi, I’m Albert Rapp.

I’m a mathematics PhD student with a passion for R, data visualization, Shiny and statistics/machine learning. On this blog, I share and teach what I learn.

To get started, you can check out my most popular content below. You can find me on Twitter or GitHub and YouTube. Feel free to reach out to me via mail and subscribe to my email newsletter.

Data Visualization

Recreating the Storytelling with Data look with ggplot

The SWD is a great look for any visual. With ggplot you can recreate it.

Storytelling in ggplot using rounded rectangles

Rounded rectangles with {ggchicklet} can give your bar chart a different feel.

How to use Fonts and Icons in ggplot

Spice up your visuals with different fonts and icons.

4 Ways to use colors in ggplot more efficiently

Avoid plots that look like a gnome just puked a rainbow. Use colors effectively.

Stats/ML

Yet Again: R + Data Science

Course I taught at Ulm University. Inspired by the legendary R4DS, I take a tour through the data science workflow. Includes intro to {shiny} and {tidymodels}.

The ultimate beginner’s guide to generalized linear models (GLMs)

Both Poisson and logistic regression are GLMs. I explain the fundamentals.

Statistical Concepts (A Shiny App)

Interactive webapp I built to teach a selection of statistical concepts. Will be extended once I master {golem}.

Shiny/Dashboards

6 simple Shiny things I have learned from creating a somewhat small app

If you’ve just gotten started with {shiny}, this is the post for you.

Interactive ggplots, user feedback, and a little bit of Javascript magic with Shiny

Next step after the “6 simple Shiny things” post.

Image Thinner

Fun app I built to ‘thin out pixels from an image’. The “about” page contains neat tricks for your Shiny learning path.

YouTube

Use {janitor} to clean Excel files with R

The {janitor} package contains great helper functions and can work magic with Excel files.

How to style your Quarto blog without knowing a lot of HTML/CSS

You don’t have to know much HTML or CSS to style your Quarto blog according to your wishes. This video shows you how.

How to build an interactive point-and-click game with {Shiny}

This is a fun game I built to learn the street names in my city. Turned out to be a great Shiny learning experience.

Programming

Writing Versatile Functions with R

Curly-Curly and dot-dot-dot are EXTREMELY powerful concepts in R. Master them to be unstoppable.

How to use functional programming for ggplot

Functional programming is great and powerful. A great motivation for learning them can come from ggplot.

Miscellaneous

The ultimate guide to starting a Quarto blog

This is an in-depth guide on how to start blogging with Quarto.

6 Lessons that I learned from teaching R to non-programmers

I taught a intro to R course for business students. Here are things I wish I had known sooner.

Learning by Thieving

TidyTuesday is a great learning experience because so many people share their code.