I think the big unique thing about R is that it is both an interactive environment and a programming language. A new user can start it, enter some data, and compute same basic statics without ever "programming". A more advanced user can write their own function to automate common procedures or implement an new method. The journey from user to programmer is smoother that learning a macro language or API.
Add to that the packages available (which could be programmed in other languages, but why?) and you have a very useful tool. On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 1:22 PM, johannes rara <johannesr...@gmail.com> wrote: > Thanks, the audience is mainly Java developers who develop tailored > software for many domains. I think that they would like to have some > answers to these kind of questions: > > - why should I learn R? > - what are the specific use cases where one might think of using R? > - in which area R is good for? > - how R differ from other programming and scripting languages? > - etc. > > My intention is to convince them so that they will try R on their own, > and probably in some day start using R in their projects. > > Best regards, > -J > > 2012/8/20 R. Michael Weylandt <michael.weyla...@gmail.com>: >> As a language, there are some nifty things about function arguments: >> http://blog.moertel.com/articles/2006/01/20/wondrous-oddities-rs-function-call-semantics. >> Lexical scoping + first class functions also come to mind. >> >> If we are thinking about libraries, graphics: >> http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/ and look into ggplot2 >> (including the famous facebook world map) and statistical modelling >> (both base and in contributed packages) >> >> What are your developers interested in and we can be more specific? >> >> Michael >> >> On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 1:02 PM, johannes rara <johannesr...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >>> My intention is to give a presentation about R programming language >>> for software developers. I would like to ask, what are the things that >>> make R different from other programming languages? What are the >>> specific cases where Java/C#/Python developer might say "Wow, that was >>> neat!"? What are the things that are easy in R, but very difficult in >>> other programming languages (like Java)? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> -J >>> >>> ______________________________________________ >>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. -- Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D. 538...@gmail.com ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
