The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "languages" ...
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R for statistics: automate your analysis
Fenton discusses the use of programming language "R" to automate your analysis of data. Includes examples and useful links.
Tags: analysis; statistics; data; automation;
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Programming: Learn the basic lingo and gain new powers
DeBarros talks about basic programming skills that will unleash a wealth of potential for reporters. He defines a number of programming languages and explains the application of each.
Tags: programming; computer language; C#; JavaScript; Perl; PHP; Python; Ruby; SQL
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Excel/Access User Defined Functions`
Harbord discusses how Visual Basic for Applications can be used to expand the capabilities of Excel and Access. \\\"Based on the original Basic programming language from the early 70’s, this version is built in to all Microsoft Office products and is similar to Visual Basic version 6.0. Each product like Excel has special capabilities in VBA for accessing and manipulating its specific “objects” such as cells and ranges of cells. (Called the Object Model).\\\"
Tags: visual basic; excel; access; object model; VBA; functions; query
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From Data Analysis to Programming
This tipsheet is an outline of Perry and Willis' panel on data analysis to programming. They detail free Web resources; assorted data structures; tutorials on computer languages; version control; programming techniques; and how to read and share code.
Tags: programming; SQL; data; programming language; code; tutorial
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Access Q&A: Dangerous Dams
This tipsheet is an exercise in Microsoft Access analysis, using a database of dam inspections as an example. Even if you don\'t have the dam database at your fingertips to practice, the second portion of this tipsheet may still be useful. LaFleur shares the answers to the exercise questions, illustrated by many screen shots and lots of query language.
Tags: Microsoft Access; database analysis; practice exercise; dam inventory; SQL
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Programming skills: An introduction to Perl and regular expressions
Perry's PowerPoint covers Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language. With a disclaimer that you can't learn Perl in an hour, Perry's presentation aims to provide: a basic understand of the philosophy behind Perl; introduction to Perl syntax; introduction tp basic regular expression syntax; common Perl idioms; common errors; and a list of where to find help.
Tags: Perl; syntax; Practical Extraction and Report Language; UNIX; regular expressions; parsing data;
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Using Instiki
Willis discusses Instiki, which is software written in Ruby and can run on any platform. He explains installation and setup, features of Instiki, and how to maintain it.
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Learning About Python
Willis goes over the basic concepts of using Python. He also discusses strings, lists and tuples. Finally, Willis offers some resources to help you learn Python.
Tags: programming language; data analysis; computer-assisted reporting
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Speaking the Same Language: Data Handling Between the Newsroom and the Website
Willis offers tips on how to make sure your website takes full advantage of CAR stories. The tips include using ASCII text to link between a database server and a web server, as well as moving away from Microsoft Access.
Tags: intranet; internet; web server; computer-assisted reporting; database analysis
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Welcome to the Real World: Importing, rearranging and cleaning data
Porter explains each step of cleaning data in Microsoft Access. He begins by explaining how to import delimited data. He also discusses how to split fields and parse data. Porter explains the query language for executing these commands.
Tags: SQL; Microsoft Access; database analysis; raw data