jsugarelli / xplain

A framework for providing interactive interpretations and explanations of statistical results

About me

I am an economist, self-taught programmer, BI lead, author, lecturer and maintainer of several R packages. I enjoy programming, writing and teaching. Focus of my work is on making complex things more accessible.

My GitHub presence mainly features the R packages I have developed over the last couple of years. They broadly fall into the following categories:

• Statistical methods and teaching (packages quantification and xplain)
• Data import and export (packages flatxml, xml2relational, xmlconvert, refreshr)
• Working more efficiently with R (packages packagefinder, debugr and tagr)
• Enhancing the R language (packages pointr, switchcase, typehint)
• Shiny (shinyfilter)

Apart from the R packages you'll find:

• market: A market simulation tool for my economics students (Python plus streamlit)
• openai_assistant: A simple information revtrieval/RAG assistant based on OpenAI's Assistant API (see publication below)
• covid-19: Some R work I did to analyze the Covid-19 situation in Germany and get reliable und unbiased information beyond what media published

Current projects

• Working on the first edition of my new book "Programmieren mit ChatGPT" (Programming with ChatGPT", in German) (publisher: Springer)
• Revising the second edition of my Python programming book
• Experimenting with AI, mainly with OpenAI's API, but also with open-source models from time to time
• Working on a market simulation tool based on Python and streamlit, mainly for the students of my lectures (you can access the code here: https://github.com/jsugarelli/market, the app here: https://market-simulator.streamlit.app/)
• Giving lectures in economics at Hochschule München

Publications

Books

• Learn coding with Python and JavaScript: A practical introduction for beginners, Springer (https://www.amazon.de/dp/3658429119/)
• Mikroökonomik: Endlich verständlich erklärt (Mircoeconomics: Comprehensibly explained), Springer (https://www.amazon.de/dp/365838199X/)
• Programmieren lernen mit Python und JavaScript: Eine praxisorientierte Einführung für Einsteiger (Learn coding with Python and JavaScript: A practical introduction for beginners), Springer (https://www.amazon.de/dp/3658298499/)
• Statistik mit R: Eine praxisorientierte Einführung (Statistics with R: A practical introduction), O'Reilly (https://www.amazon.de/dp/3960090447/)

Articles & Papers

• Entwicklung eines KI-Assistenten mit der OpenAI Assistant API (Developing an AI assistant using OpenAI's Assistant API), Informatik Aktuell https://www.informatik-aktuell.de/betrieb/kuenstliche-intelligenz/entwicklung-eines-ki-assistenten-mit-der-openai-assistant-api.html
• R-Packages entwickeln (Developing R Packages), Informatik Aktuell, https://www.informatik-aktuell.de/entwicklung/programmiersprachen/r-packages-entwickeln.html
• Was ist R? (What is R?), Informatik Aktuell https://www.informatik-aktuell.de/entwicklung/programmiersprachen/was-ist-r.html
• A new method for quantification of qualitative expectations, Economics and Business Letters, https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/EBL/article/view/10867

Languages & Tools

Languages

Mainly

but also from time to time

Generally, I like to try out new (or old?) things (ever written something in FORTH?)

Tools

For the tool freaks out there: My editor/IDE choice is quite language-dependent. I work mainly in R Studio (for R), Visual Studio Code (for Python) and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (for T-SQL). I also use Sublime Text (mainly for JavaScript, Perl and PHP code). To organize everything I work with Microsoft To Do and Microsoft OneNote (my second brain, absolutely indispensable). And most importantly for efficiency and avoidance of frictions: I use the same tools at home and in my job.

Blog, Social Media and Contact

My blog

I run the Topics in R blog which I mainly use for announcements (new packages, articles, books) and which also feeds into RBloggers. Here are the most recent posts (at least the major ones):

• Converting XML data to R dataframes with xmlconvert
• Pointers/shortcuts in R with the 'pointr' package
• The 'xml2relational' package: Transforming NoSQL to relational data
• A switch-case construct for the R language
• Finding CRAN packages right from the R console

Twitter

I try to keep away from social media (Github != social_media) to protect my time and be more productive, but I do use Twitter. If you want to receive the latest updates on my packages and learn about interesting things I come across, click @jsugarelli to follow. I am also on LinkdedIn, but post rarely.

Website

http://www.zuckarelli.de

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