[SciPy-User] R vs Python for simple interactive data analysis

[Nathaniel Smith]

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 2:51 PM,  <josef.pktd at gmail.com> wrote:
> As an example:   mixed effects model with REML, ...
>
> y = X*b + Z*g, with X fixed regressors/effects and Z random effects.
> assume design matrices X and Z are already constructed.
>
> Since I don't know the statistics literature well (in contrast to
> econometrics panel data), I started to translate a matlab version to
> help me understand this.
> But the results don't match up, and I haven't had access to matlab for
> a while now.
> And I think now literal translation of long matlab functions doesn't
> really help, compared to writing from a good textbook with checking of
> some crucial steps.

I found the "vignettes" that Doug Bates wrote alongside the lme4
package to be pretty good descriptions of the relevant implementation
tricks: http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/index.html

-- Nathaniel