Schedule
Lectures
On this is an online class, lectures are a combination of slides, short videos -- and required reading plus self-guided exercises. We will aim to upload the lecture slides weekely.
Note
Note that the website is being updated for the Spring 2026 version. If you see any outdated reference to 2025 or prior runs please let us know at the instructor email. At present in late 2025 we are still showing 2025 dates.
Lecture Schedule
For each week, deliverables consists of
- two pdf lecture note slide decks,
- (generally) two (or three) short videos
- a weekly overview video.
A (tentative, subject to change) list of lectures, generally two per week over a full (Spring) term, follows:
| Week | Starting | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 20 | Course Overview, RStudio, GitHub, General Setup |
| 2 | Jan 27 | Shell Lectures I and II |
| 3 | Feb 3 | Lecture on sed and awk; Markdown |
| 4 | Feb 10 | Git Lectures I and II |
| 5 | Feb 17 | SQL Lectures I an II |
| 6 | Feb 24 | R Foundations; R Data Input/Output |
| 7 | Mar 3 | R Data Wrangling; R Scripting |
| 8 | Mar 10 | data.table; dplyr |
| Mar 17 | Spring Break: No Classes | |
| 9 | Mar 24 | Parallel R; Efficient R |
| 10 | Mar 31 | Visualization I and II |
| 11 | Apr 7 | Shiny; Guest Lecture (TBD) |
| 12 | Apr 14 | R Packages Lectures I and II |
| 13 | Apr 21 | GitHub Actions; Docker |
| 14 | Apr 28 | No lectures -- time for project |
| 15 | May 5 | No lectures -- time for project |
Office Hours
| Title | Name | Location | Hours | Type / Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor | Dirk Eddelbuettel | Zoom | Mon 11am - noon | Open |
| Zoom | Mon 4pm - 5pm | Open | ||
| Zoom by appointment | Thu 4pm - 5:30pm | 15m, one-on-one | ||
| TA | Jim Yuan | Zoom | Tue 5pm - 6pm | Open |
| Zoom | Wed 5pm - 6pm | Open |
We offer two types of office hours. The first type is open with an open door where you can walk in and out, attend every week, or never---as you see fit. The second type are individual one-on-one office hours that fifteen minutes each, and which you book via the calendly link above. We expect that you limit your use of these to two per term. The booking system only allows one week out so please be considerate of your fellow students. Under genuinely exceptional circumstances, additional visits can be scheduled on demand. (Note that the Zoom links above differ per time slot. Make sure you pick the correct one.)
The same table is at syllabus/overview. For online office hours, links for the sessions will be emailed via compass2g announcement emails.
PrairieTest -- Computer-Based Testing Exams
The following dates have been reserved (but are as always subject to change):
| Quiz | First Date | Last Date | Self-Reserve | Weeks Covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz 1 (Shell, Markdown) | Feb 12 | Feb 15 | Jan 29 | Weeks 2 and 3 |
| Quiz 2 (Git, SQL) | Feb 26 | Mar 1 | Feb 12 | Weeks 4 and 5 |
| Quiz 3 (R Part I) | Mar 11 | Mar 13 | Feb 25 | Weeks 6 and 7 |
| Quiz 4 (R Part II) | Apr 2 | Apr 5 | Mar 19 | Weeks 8 and 9 |
| Quiz 5 (Visualization, Shiny) | Apr 16 | Apr 19 | Apr 1 | Weeks 10 and 11 |
| Quiz 6 (Automation) | Apr 30 | May 3 | Apr 16 | Weeks 12 and 13 |
Quizzes follow the bi-weekly schedule of the homework, and cover the same (typically two week) set of lectures, and are also not cumulative. You are responsible for scheduling your quiz, and you can schedule your exam time within these windows via the PrairieTest site exam will be a session of 50 minutes. These are in-person exams.
Note
Five of the six quizzes run on a four-day schedule Thursday to Sunday. Because of Spring Break technically starting the weekend prior, Quiz 3 is on a three-day Wednesday to Friday schedule. Please keep this in mind and attempt to schedule this one early!
Under exceptional circumstance, accomodations may be made by course staff upon written request (also see email etiquette) with proof of exceptional circumstances to allow for online exams for fully-remote students not residing in Urbana-Champaign for the full length of term. Again, proof of such cirumstances will be required as this must be need-based and is not an elective choice for Urbana-Champaign based students who are expected to test at the CBTF facility in person. Requesting online testing when you were able to attend the CBTF in person may be treated an academic integrity violation with its full consequences.
Please consult the PrairieTest and CBTF sites for full details.
Homework
We aim to have a homework each other week prior to the PrairieTest quiz.
| Week | Given | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Homework 1 (Shell, Markdown) -- Week 3 | Feb 5 @ noon | Feb 11 @ noon |
| Homework 2 (Git,SQL) -- Week 5 | Feb 19 @ noon | Feb 25 @ noon |
| Homework 3 (R Part I) -- Week 7 | Mar 5 @ noon | Mar 11 @ noon |
| Homework 4 (R Part II) -- Week 9 | Mar 26 @ noon | Apr 1 @ noon |
| Homework 5 (Visualization, Shiny) -- Week 11 | Apr 9 @ noon | Apr 15 @ noon |
| Homework 6 (Automation) -- Week 13 | Apr 23 @ noon | Apr 29 @ noon |
These are indicative dates which may be adjusted as needed.
Homeworks are generally released at noon, and due a week later at noon. Note that as the spring break, as well as 'busier' times at the CBTF site have to be accomodated, not all homeworks follow the Thursday to Wednesday schedule. Graduate students receive (generally two) additional required questions. These questions are typically more substantial in nature and require extra effort than the regular questions for both undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates may opt to answer one or both of these questions for additional points, or challenges. Scoring is however capped at 100%. See the 'Grading' section in the Syllabus.
Project Registration
Doing a group project is optional, but very highly recommended. See the 'Project' section for details. If a project is to be undertaken it has to be registered by Spring Break. This avoids a last minute rush deciding to do a project in weeks, say, twelve to fourteen which is likely to be underwhelming. A project requires commitment and recurrent work throughout the term. The sooner it is started, the better are the chances of it being amazing.
Project Presentations
For the Spring 2026 term, presentations will likely be again recorded Zoom videos. The general idea is to have five minutes per team along with five slides per team. Both limits are hard. You are expected to produce presentation-ready slides (in either html or pdf) via the R / RStudio environment based on either markdown or quarto.
The overall deadline for the projects will be noon on Reading Day, May 7 at which point we will snapshot the repositories. You will continue to have write access and can make changes, however only changes made prior to noon on May 78 will be evaluated for the project grade.