On 19/02/2010, at 1:12 AM, John Sorkin wrote:
> It is easy to devolve into visceral response mode, lose objectivity and slip
> into intolerance. R, S, S-Plus, SAS, PASW (nee SPSS), STATA, are all tools.
> Each has strengths and weaknesses. No one is inherently better, or worse than
> the other. The quality of the results produced by anyone of them is a
> function of the abilities of the person who manipulates them. Don't expect
> quality work from any program unless the person running the program knows
> what he, or she is doing!
I think this sort of ``moral relativism'' is specious. It is certainly true
that the
programmer or analyst has to know what he or she is doing irrespective of
package or
language. And SAS at least has some relative strengths in respect of its
capacity to
handle large data sets. But overall, in terms of having an effective
environment in
which to conduct statistical analyses, there can be no question that the
R/S/S-Plus
group win hands down.
cheers,
Rolf Turner
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