[R] Is R really an open source S+ ?

[Liaw, Andy]

> From: Rex_Bryan at urscorp.com [mailto:RexBryan1 at attbi.com]
> 
>  This is not a criticism.  I'm just curious.  Is there an 
> effort to keep R
> comparable to S+?
> Or are the two languages diverging?  I am doing what probably 
> legions have
> done before me,
> and legions will after me...using R on examples from text 
> books written with
> S+ code.  Most of the
> time everything appears to be equivalent.  And then there are amazing
> divergences in commands.  For
> instance:
> S:  stdev
> R:  sd

In older versions of Splus (and R), neither existed.  People simply do
sqrt(var(...)).
 
> why this difference?
> Other examples...
> 
> S:  Bootstrap
> R:  Boot
> 
> S:  Jackknife
> R:  NA

Arguably these are differences in added functionalities, and not in the core
language.  BTW, have you look in the "bootstrap" package for R (ported from
S)?  It does have bootstrap() and jackknife().
 
> S: T, F
> R: TRUE, FALSE

This (and other S/R differences) is covered in the R FAQ.  You *can* use T/F
in R, just not as safe as using TRUE/FALSE.

Andy
 
> For those who want to use open source R but still use the excellent S+
> literature...these differences can be confusing.  I can also 
> appreciate the
> stress on authors attempting to express code that works in 
> both languages.
> 
> REX
> 
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