After reading the interesting post of Ajay, I decided to write a post about the good aspects of R. First, I would like to state that I’m not a SAS nor a Clementine user. So the following arguments are my opinions as a R programmer:
- R is easy and free to improve: R contains hundreds of useful packages (data mining, finance, etc.). If this is not enough, you can program your own packages and share them with others. You are not dependent on some programmers.
- R is a white-box: Since R is a programming language, it is easy to understand the overall process of the system in development. There is no GUI that allows you to put black-box components that may be unclear.
- When you know R, you know everything: Ok, this is a bit too much. But the message is that it is much more easier to start with R and then move to SAS or Clementine than the opposite. Especially for users who only use the GUI.
- R is free: This is very good since small companies don’t have the money to buy SAS or Clementine. Also, if several users need such tools, then the price increase. Of course, in a large company, SAS and SPSS tools may be an alternative.
- R is a good choice: R is as convenient as Matlab (or even more?) and as cheap as Java (which means free). Which makes R an excellent choice among existing tools and programming languages.
Here is an article about R from the New York Times. Since the above list is completely subjective, you are invited to give your own opinion by posting a comment.
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