This third edition of Paul Murrell's classic book on using R for graphics represents a major update, with a complete overhaul in focus and scope. It focuses primarily on the two core graphics packages in R - graphics and grid - and has a new section on integrating graphics. This section includes three new chapters: importing external images in to R; integrating the graphics and grid systems; and advanced SVG graphics.
The emphasis in this third edition is on having the ability to produce detailed and customised graphics in a wide variety of formats, on being able to share and reuse those graphics, and on being able to integrate graphics from multiple systems.
This book is aimed at all levels of R users. For people who are new to R, this book provides an overview of the graphics facilities, which is useful for understanding what to expect from R's graphics functions and how to modify or add to the output they produce. For intermediate-level R users, this book provides all of the information necessary to perform sophisticated customizations of plots produced in R. For advanced R users, this book contains vital information for producing coherent, reusable, and extensible graphics functions.
"...In transit from the first to the third edition, in addition to including new material, Dr. Murrell has introduced key changes and some rearrangements that have made the whole book more understandable, especially the concepts related to viewports and coordinate systems...With an emphasis on producing graphics from code (which promotes automation, sharing and reuse), R Graphics focuses on (i) offering tools and tricks for drawing detailed and customized graphics in a variety of formats and (ii) explaining how to integrate graphics from multiple systems. This distinguishes this book from other books centered on producing plots in R...After reading the book, the R practitioner will understand how to integrate the two distinct graphics systems of R (the base graphics system and the grid graphics system) and how to customize plots, including lattice and ggplot2 graphics. This book also explains how to import images from external files into R and how to integrate them as part of R graphics output. And, furthermore, it shows how to enrich plots created by R with graphical effects and features not supported by the core R graphics system...For R beginners, this book presents an outline of the base graphics facilities and shows how to modify or add to the output they produce. For slightly more skilled R users, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to the grid high-level plotting functions available in the lattice package and in the (probably now more popular) ggplot2 package. For intermediate level R users, the book teaches how to perform sophisticated customizations of R graphical outputs. And, for advanced users and R developers, R Graphics shows how to develop coherent, reusable, and extensible graphics functions...In short, this is a valuable book that the full range of R users will find of interest."
- Jose M. Pavía, Journal of Statistical Software, February 2020
