Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
Hi. Em Ter 21 Ago 2012, Mark Dalphin escreveu: > I guess the other aspect which I take the most time to describe to any > programmer from other more traditional languages is the working with > vectors. To use R effectively, you must move data in large chunks; the > standard paradigm of looping over the data is the fastest way to write > a slow program. That's what makes R kind of hybrid: both procedural and declarative. Declaring objects and its predicates and have all fully and efficiently processed without programming every single step may be shocking for those who only know the 'procedural way'. Except for the experience with SQL with which we do not write 'SQL programs', most programmers (including amateur programmers) never had contact with the declarative programming paradigm. Many may have never heard of Prolog, for instance. Cheers. -- Alexandre -- Alexandre Santos Aguiar, MD, SCT gpg public key: mailto:gpg...@asaguiar.net signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part. __ 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
johannes rara 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)? Hi johannes, Think of it as a classic work of cinematic art. The Good It's familiar. If you've programmed in C (or FORTRAN, APL,...) the syntax will be sufficiently familiar that the noob can begin doing useful things right away. Building functions is a natural step from using the numerous built in functions. It's easy to get started with the bits that are cool and fun, like graphics. I recall programming a psychological test in Tcl-Tk (which I like a great deal) and finding that even simple graphics were a lot more difficult than they are in R. The Bad It's not always what you expect. It is so easy to get started that most people will get tripped up by some neat feature of the underlying object oriented programming model. For a while, the more you learn, the more you have to learn. The Ugly You are almost encouraged to write sloppy spaghetti code, as most common problems will yield to monkey-search programming in R. Just stick things together until the answer comes out. That's the price you pay for The Good. Jim __ 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
cbe...@tajo.ucsd.edu escreveu: >"This rather unlikely linguistic cocktail would probably never have >been prepared by computer scientists, yet the language has become >surprisingly popular." A linguist that is a good friend once observed that language is both expression and a modeller of how we think. No matter in which extent each one is true, the 'expression' property has some compelling evidence in support: it has been demonstrated that human babies generate the same words and phonemes without regard to the culture of their parents, that is, everywhere babies generate a common babies' language. In everyday life, each profession has its technical jargon and even a peculiar slang (not to mention the set of jokes :-) ). In computing, it is remarkable that different languages developed by the same person are extremely similar: Nicklaus Wirth's Pascal and Modula 2 have almost identical syntax, use the same function naming and calling conventions, etc. >From this angle, it does not look strange that R is peculiar and can even be >regarded as a new, more free paradigm with regard to control structures and >yet hold all the features of a structured language. And although a procedural >language there are some instances in which R resembles a declarative language >(IMHO, this could be extended, enhanced :-D). -- Alexandre Aguiar, MD SCT SPS Consultoria -- Sent from my tablet. Please, excuse my brevity. Enviado do tablet. Por favor, perdoe a brevidade. Publié de le tablet. S'il vous plaît pardonnez la brièveté. Veröffentlicht aus dem Tablet. Bitte verzeihen Sie die Kürze. Enviado desde mi tablet. Por favor, disculpen mi brevedad. Inviato dal mio tablet. Per favore, scusate la mia brevità. __ 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
johannes rara writes: > 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. For that audience this might be a useful reference: http://www.springerlink.com/content/284141778194p522/ Evaluating the Design of the R Language (Objects and Functions for Data Analysis) Floreal Morandat, Brandon Hill, Leo Osvald and Jan Vitek >From the abstract: "This rather unlikely linguistic cocktail would probably never have been prepared by computer scientists, yet the language has become surprisingly popular." and "Using a combination of static and dynamic program analysis we assess the success of different language features." HTH, Chuck > > 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 : >> 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 >> 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. > -- Charles C. BerryDept of Family/Preventive Medicine cberry at ucsd edu UC San Diego http://famprevmed.ucsd.edu/faculty/cberry/ La Jolla, San Diego 92093-0901 __ 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
I've read several replies to this question already and they seem to have missed the one point that most irritated the Java programmers to whom I tried to teach R. They HATED the "object-oriented" material, both S4 and especially S3, as it did not match the style of OO programming that had been pounded into them. The ones I tried to teach hated S3 and S4 methods so much, that some even refused to learn to learn them on the grounds that they "weren't OO". Now it could easily have been my approach as I was not well equipped at the time to "compare and contrast", never the less, I would approach this aspect carefully as the two approaches are so different. I guess the other aspect which I take the most time to describe to any programmer from other more traditional languages is the working with vectors. To use R effectively, you must move data in large chunks; the standard paradigm of looping over the data is the fastest way to write a slow program. I find it takes a good long while for programmers to make the switch to working with vectors (more than a month of use), but they grasp the concept quickly and like it. Cheers, Mark johannes rara 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Greg Snow <538...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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. And note that the "rJava" package allows both way communications between R and Java (I'm ~95% sure and that seems to be all statisticians care about ;-) ) so your Java programmers can take advantage of R's libraries too. http://www.rforge.net/rJava/ Cheers, Michael > > On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 1:22 PM, johannes rara 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 : >>> 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 >>> 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
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 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 : >> 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 >> 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
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 : > 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 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
I think you would find it more useful to take a look at John Chambers' book: Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R. Much more authoritative and comprehensive than you are likely to get here. -- Bert On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 11:02 AM, johannes rara 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. -- Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics Internal Contact Info: Phone: 467-7374 Website: http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm __ 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
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 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.
Re: [R] What makes R different from other programming languages?
My vote:
1. Symbolic function arguments:
fn = function(a, b)
{
a/b
}
fn(b=10, a=2)
2. Names for elements of a vector and matrices
v = c(a=1, b=2)
v['a'] = v['a'] * 2
same for matrices
3. about 10,000 user-contributed packages on CRAN
4. weird things like
a = numeric(10)
a[1:10] = 1:2
a
answer: five times 1:2
which guarantee happy debugging
5. and, of course, much built-in statistical stuff
Am 20.08.2012 20:02, schrieb johannes rara:
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
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PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
