[R] The Origins of R

Thomas Adams Thomas.Adams at noaa.gov
Wed Feb 4 22:05:59 CET 2009


Rolf,

Yes, that's what I was referring to as well…

Cheers!
Tom

Rolf Turner wrote:
>
> On 4/02/2009, at 8:15 PM, Mark Difford wrote:
>
>>
>>>> Indeed. The postings exuded a tabloid-esque level of slimy nastiness.
>>
>> Indeed, indeed. But I do not feel that that is necessarily the case. 
>> Credit
>> should be given where credit is due. And that, I believe is the issue 
>> that
>> is getting (some) people hot and bothered. Certainly, Trevor Hastie 
>> in his
>> reply to the NY Times article, was not too happy with this aspect of the
>> story.
>>
>> Granted, his comments were not made on this list, but the objection is
>> essentially the same. I would not call what he had to say "Mischief 
>> making"
>> or smacking of a "tabloid-esque level of slimy nastiness." The knee-jerk
>> reaction seems to be that this is a criticism of R. It is not. It is a
>> criticism of a poorly researched article.
>>
>> It also is an undeniable and inescapable fact that most S code runs 
>> in R.
>
> The problem is not with criticism of the NY Times article, although as 
> Pat
> Burns and others have pointed out this criticism was somewhat misdirected
> and unrealistic considering the exigencies of newspaper editing. The 
> problem
> was with a number of posts that cast aspersions upon the integrity of
> Ihaka and Gentleman. It is these posts that exuded tabloid-esque slimy
> nastiness.
>
> I am sure that Ross and Robert would never dream of failing to give 
> credit
> where credit is due and it is almost certainly the case that they 
> explained
> the origins of R in the S language to the writer of the NYT article 
> (wherefrom
> the explanation was cut in the editing process).
>
> Those of us on this list (with the possible exception of one or two 
> nutters)
> would take it that it goes without saying that R was developed on the 
> basis
> of S --- we all ***know*** that. To impugn the integrity of Ihaka and 
> Gentleman,
> because an article which *they didn't write* failed to mention this 
> fact, is
> unconscionable.
>
> cheers,
>
> Rolf Turner
>
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-- 
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
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