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: 3, Informative) by cellocgw on Sunday August 28 2016, @04:40PM
> R is probably the leading tool for statistics.
Would you say it's more popular and/or better for statistics than MATLAB?
Having used both R and MATLAB quite extensively, I can tell you that R wins hands-down. Here are some of my top reasons (leaving aside the absurd cost of MATLAB)
-- R's function argument syntax is miles better, more flexible, and more intuitive than MATLAB's .
-- R understands NAMESPACEs and ENVIRONMENTS; Matlab is clueless.
-- To load functions in R , one sources them. Everything in a sourced file is available at the command line. None of this "only the top function is available" crap as in MATLAB.
-- ggplot . 'nuff said
-- Perfectly legal in R: x = func(y,z)(a,b)[[3]][5:9] . That is, func returns a function, which acts on a&b, returning a structure (list) of which we took the 3rd elemnt and took the 5:9'th elements of it. Matlab won't even let you do x = sin(y)(3:5) .
-- R allows you to access and modify portions of functions (actually, closures) in real-time, sort of like Mathematica. MATLAB doesn't even let you define a function from the command line.
R's source code is openly available. Neither MATLAB's engine nor the "builtin" functions' codes are available.
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