R Programming By Example

Reproducibility as a benefit of literate programming

In science, reproducibility is the most important element of verifying and validating analysis findings. The analyses, models, and algorithms we run are much more complicated than they used to be. Having a basic understanding of these algorithms is difficult, even for a sophisticated person, and it's almost impossible to describe with words alone. Understanding what someone did nowadays requires looking at data and code directly, not only at results.

Scientists write a lot of reports describing the results of data analyses. Making those reports reproducible is essential to have your work reviewed by your peers, and it is a very good way to accomplish this with literate programming. With ...