ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter was to introduce some basic R concepts. This was not intended to be comprehensive, nor is it intended to be the only resource the readers new to R may need for this purpose. In subsequent chapters we will provide further information regarding interactions with R. Indeed, the reader will be provided with all of the information necessary for interacting with the data and conducting the analyses that are demonstrated in this book. In addition, the interested reader will find a plethora of resources for using R, available both online and in textbook form.
In the next chapter, we will turn our attention to the theoretical underpinnings of the regularization methods that are the focus of this book. We will begin by discussing the need for variable selection methods, followed by technical descriptions of each of the estimators that will be the focus of the book. We will conclude the chapter with an examination of inference for regularization methods. These discussions will serve as the foundation for the rest of the text, in which we apply regularization methods in R.
