Getting started with qplot

In this chapter, you will learn to make a wide variety of plots with your first ggplot2 function, qplot(), short for quick plot. qplot makes it easy to produce complex plots, often requiring several lines of code using other plotting systems, in one line. qplot() can do this because it’s based on the grammar of graphics, which allows you to create a simple, yet expressive, description of the plot. In later chapters you’ll learn to use all of the expressive power of the grammar, but here we’ll start simple so you can work your way up. You will also start to learn some of the ggplot2 terminology that will be used throughout the book.