[R] a philosophy R question

[Erin Hodgess]

Thanks to all for the great insightful answers!

Sincerely,
Erin


On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 10:22 PM,  <Bill.Venables at csiro.au> wrote:
> The conventional view used to be that S is the language and that R and S-PLUS are implementations of it.  R is usually described as 'a programming environment for data analysis and graphics' (as was S-PLUS before it).  However as the language that R implements diverges inexorably from the classical definition of S it is now probably more accurate to describe the language itself as R as well, now a dialect of S, if you will.
>
> The only thing most would agree upon, though is that neither R nor S-PLUS should *ever* be described as "stats packages".  Such a description is definitely to be avoided.  In fact calling R a 'package' at all would be both confusing and misleading (not to mention demeaning!).
>
> Bill Venables.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Erin Hodgess
> Sent: Sunday, 21 November 2010 11:56 AM
> To: R help
> Subject: [R] a philosophy R question
>
> Dear R People:
>
> Do we say that R is a programming language or a programming environment, please?
>
> Which is correct, please?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Sincerely,
> Erin
>
>
> --
> Erin Hodgess
> Associate Professor
> Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
> University of Houston - Downtown
> mailto: erinm.hodgess at gmail.com
>
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>



-- 
Erin Hodgess
Associate Professor
Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
University of Houston - Downtown
mailto: erinm.hodgess at gmail.com