R - Ggplot

About

ggplot is a graphic library that follows the grammar of graphics.

Plot Components

charts are made of :

Ggplot Graphic Plot

Usage

Initialization

ggplot(df, aes(x, y, <other aesthetics>))

will define as default for all layers

Without any argument, ggplot initializes a skeleton ggplot object which is fleshed out as layers are added.

Adding Layers

ggplot() is typically used to construct a plot incrementally, using the + operator to add layers to the existing ggplot object. This is advantageous in that the code is explicit about which layers are added and the order in which they are added.

Plot = ggplot(data, mapping) +
layer(
  stat = "",
  geom = "",
  position = "",
  geom_parms = list(),
  stat_params = list(),
)

where:

Example: Layers are created with the layer function but usually they are created directly through the shortcut functions geom_* (geom_point is a layer with a point geom) or stat_*)

d <- ggplot(diamonds, aes(x=carat, y=price))
d + geom_point()
d + geom_point(aes(colour = carat))

ggplot(diamonds) + geom_histogram(aes(x=price))

where:

  • diamonds is the data set
  • aes(x=carat, y=price) map the variable carat to x and the variable y to price.
  • geom_point define a new layer with the point as geom
  • geom_point(aes(colour = carat)) map the variable carat to the colour aesthetic

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