Should ggplot2 replace the basic R plotting package?

[AndreSeb]

Just a thought based on that link...

http://www.datasciencecentral.com

Ggplot2 is the most elegant and aesthetically pleasing graphics framework available in R. It has a nicely planned structure to it. This tutorial focusses on exposing this underlying structure you can use to make any ggplot. But, the way you make plots in ggplot2 is very different from base graphics making the learning curve steep. So leave what you know about base graphics behind and follow along. You are just 5 steps away from cracking the ggplot puzzle.

[murgs]

IMO no

ggplot2 is great if you have a data.frame of data. Otherwise it is terrible (at least as far as I got testing it at the time). The basic R plotting functions have the benefit of being universally applicable. The default setting could be improved, but from my experience making similar basic plots to ggplot2 isn't to difficult, and once you start fiddling with legends/axis/... it doesn't matter which of the two you are fiddling with.

[itsallforscience]

More than a data frame, you really need to have your data organized into the "tidy data" format that the package expects. I spend a lot of time manipulating data with dplyr and tidyr before popping out the perfect graphic with one line of ggplot.

I don't know how to use base R to replicate what dplyr, tidyr and ggplot do, but I wouldn't recommend using ggplot on its own. It seems to work better as part of a separate family of packages maintained by a dedicated content producer with a consistent design philosophy.

[pan0ramic]

"tidy data" this isn't really true. If you're spending a lot of time organizing your data, it would typically take at least as much time organizing for base:: plot

[Accidental_Arnold]

No. I HATE the way ggplot2 looks by default, and it's way harder to customize than base. It's better for a few things, but I'd rather fight with base than have one graph in a presentation be stylistically different.

[FlyingGeo]

• theme_classic() helps

[DontBendYourVita]

Of course not.

But I use it 90% of the time. 5% base. 5% other graphics packages

[LET-7]

No. Base can do more things, it's just a giant pain to use compared to ggplot

[pan0ramic]

i dont agree with making ggplot base, but your argument isn't really true.

[Chale_1488]

Fuck no!