[R] Can't there be a cd command?

[Berton Gunter]

...another fortunes package candidate? I especially liked the sections
beginning "R is a 4 wheel drive SUV...", but a lot of it is great IMHO. Well
said! Bestimmt!

-- Bert

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Greg Snow
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 1:37 PM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] Can't there be a cd command?
> 
> When talking about user friendlyness of computer software I 
> like the analogy of cars vs. busses:
> 
> Busses are very easy to use, you just need to know which bus 
> to get on, where to get on, and where to get off (and you 
> need to pay your fare).  Cars on the other hand require much 
> more work, you need to have some type of map or directions 
> (even if the map is in your head), you need to put gas in 
> every now and then, you need to know the rules of the road 
> (have some type of drivers licence).  The big advantage of 
> the car is that it can take you a bunch of places that the 
> bus does not go and it is quicker for some trips that would 
> require transfering between busses.
> 
> Using this analogy programs like SPSS are busses, easy to use 
> for the standard things, but very frustrating if you want to 
> do something that is not already preprogrammed.
> 
> R is a 4-wheel drive SUV (though environmentally friendly) 
> with a bike on the back, a kayak on top, good walking and 
> running shoes in the pasenger seat, and mountain climbing and 
> spelunking gear in the back.
> 
> R can take you anywhere you want to go if you take time to 
> leard how to use the equipment, but that is going to take 
> longer than learning where the bus stops are in SPSS.
> 
> Now there are tools like Rcmdr that help get you started 
> (maybe a gps unit in the R suv above), but if we make R too 
> user friendly then we limit what can be done with it.
> 
> I think the volume of mail in R-help is partly due to lack of 
> friendliness, but a lot of it is due to the flexibility as 
> well, if it did less, there would be less to learn and ask 
> questions about.  I for one prefer to do a little more work 
> learning the program in exchange for being able to do a lot 
> more with it.
> 
> 
> To mangle a famous Einstien quote:  "Statistical packages 
> should be made as user friendly as possible, but no friendlier."
> 
> -- 
> Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
> Statistical Data Center
> Intermountain Healthcare
> greg.snow at intermountainmail.org
> (801) 408-8111
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Manuel 
> López-Ibáñez
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 2:19 PM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] Can't there be a cd command?
> 
> Jan T. Kim wrote:
> > 
> > That's an idea I like very much too -- much better than the 
> currently 
> > popular idea of "protecting" users from the "unfriendliness" of 
> > programming, anyway...
> > 
> 
> It is just my opinion that the amount of mail in R-help 
> speaks volumes about the current "friendliness" [1], or lack 
> thereof, of R. Perhaps I am just the only one who thinks this way...
> 
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability
> 
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