First of all, the question is 'Why Use R'. One source answers that question thus:
R is the leading tool for statistics, data analysis, and machine learning. It is more than a statistical package; it's a programming language, so you can create your own objects, functions, and packages.
Speaking of packages, there are over 2,000 cutting-edge, user-contributed packages available on CRAN (not to mention Bioconductor and Omegahat). Many packages are submitted by prominent members of their respective fields.
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For Beginners in R, here is a 15 page example based tutorial that covers the basics of R.
These tutorials are designed for beginners in R, but they can also be used by experienced programmers as a refresher course or as reference. Running loops in R can be slow and therefore the apply group of functions as well as the reshape package can drastically improve the performance of the code.
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Sunday August 28 2016, @09:32AM
R is the leading language for statistical analysis. It's not exactly niche...
Having said that it's only dominant in one sector, 'cos that's what it's designed for.