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Chapter 1
Data Visualization Techniques
1.1 A word about visualization in R
R is such a graphics rich system that the entire information on
graphing or techniques that deals visualswill turns out to be
humongous literature. Some extent , it is not extraneous to state
that most of the
features (parameters) that are used in data visualization are in
fact too many to ordinary user (beginner). 1
The beauty of visualization in R is that the extent to which
customization is rendered on a visual is reallyawesome.
1.1.1 Implications with terminology
Mostly we are not so careful using certain worlds like graph,
picture, plot, illustration, visual, diagram andetc. All these
words are to be used carefully in respective professional set-ups.
Although, the concept ofvisualization appears to be synonymous with
graphing, a graph might be different from a visual. Visual ismore
general than graph. A graph needs to have certain important
characteristics like axes, margins andtextual or
numericalinformation rendered or gotten in a very logically, such
that it helps the visualizer tocomprehend what is in question. The
word illustration can be used as a common term for both a table
or
graph, only if it is useful to illustrate some phenomena under
observation. The concept of visualization isentirely a process of
developing, analyzing a picture (adding pictorial shape to data)
and understanding datawith the help of graphs/plot/picture.
1.2 First things at first
Being a user of R, there are certain important aspects you need
to know. They are:
What is a graphing device? and How to switch between
devices?
Canvas (plotting background) (mfrow()) 2
1.2.1 Graph Device
A graph devise inR is simply a canvas (back ground) with a graph
(visual) in it as it isavailable as anillustration.The following
are the exhaust set of functions that are used to do with graph
device in R.
1Glynn at Stowers Institute for Medical Researchstates that
there are more than 70 usable parameters to use.2Although, mfrow()
is one of the parameters of visualization in R, it is needs special
emphasis, for a user need to know,
something more about number of plots that needs to be embedded
at any given point of time irrespective of the nature of plot.
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> apropos(dev)
[1] ".Device" ".Devices" "dev.capabilities"
[4] "dev.capture" "dev.control" "dev.copy"
[7] "dev.copy2eps" "dev.copy2pdf" "dev.cur"
[10] "dev.flush" "dev.hold" "dev.interactive"
[13] "dev.list" "dev.new" "dev.next"
[16] "dev.off" "dev.prev" "dev.print"[19] "dev.set" "dev.size"
"dev2bitmap"
[22] "devAskNewPage" "deviance" "deviceIsInteractive"
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