Comments on: Another reason to use R http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:17:38 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: engels http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228554 engels Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:59:09 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228554 <i>I’m curious how R (or J for that matter) compares with L?</i> But what about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_%28programming_language%29" rel="nofollow">Q</a>? I’m curious how R (or J for that matter) compares with L?

But what about Q?

]]> By: drew http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228482 drew Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:38:00 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228482 I think the compulsion to capitalize all programming languages comes people used to older languages like LISP, FORTRAN, COBOL, and PROLOG. (Although these days you often seen them written in normal capitalization.) My undergrad CS advisor was a former COBOL programmer and ever wrote Python as PYTHON. I think the compulsion to capitalize all programming languages comes people used to older languages like LISP, FORTRAN, COBOL, and PROLOG. (Although these days you often seen them written in normal capitalization.) My undergrad CS advisor was a former COBOL programmer and ever wrote Python as PYTHON.

]]> By: Crooked Timber » » Languages http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228474 Crooked Timber » » Languages Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:08:40 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228474 [...] following in the comments thread of Kieran’s recent post reminds me of an issue I’ve wondered about in the past. The comment exchange: Do people think [...] [...] following in the comments thread of Kieran’s recent post reminds me of an issue I’ve wondered about in the past. The comment exchange: Do people think [...]

]]> By: eszter http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228469 eszter Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:22:07 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228469 Thanks for this post (although I would retitle it "Another reason to use Stata"). I can't wait to forward it to everybody in my department! (My students are the only ones who know anything other than SPSS. For now they might hate me for it, but hopefully they'll understand one day.) Why people insist on spelling Stata with all caps is a mystery to me. Thanks for this post (although I would retitle it “Another reason to use Stata”). I can’t wait to forward it to everybody in my department! (My students are the only ones who know anything other than SPSS. For now they might hate me for it, but hopefully they’ll understand one day.)

Why people insist on spelling Stata with all caps is a mystery to me.

]]> By: Noli Irritare Leones » Blog Archive » Blogwatch http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228452 Noli Irritare Leones » Blog Archive » Blogwatch Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:45:10 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228452 [...] newest version of a popular piece of statistical analysis software is not allowed to leave the country. I hope this export issue gets fixed soon (not that I’ve used SPSS myself in, oh, [...] [...] newest version of a popular piece of statistical analysis software is not allowed to leave the country. I hope this export issue gets fixed soon (not that I’ve used SPSS myself in, oh, [...]

]]> By: GreatZamfir http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228429 GreatZamfir Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:38:20 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228429 Yabonn, I switched from Matlab to Numpy some time ago. Object-oriented programming is really heaven after Matlab, and while its array syntax is less polished than Matlab's, for the rest Numpy is just as good and fast, plus it has zero-based indexing. And f2py allows you to use Fortran and C routines seemlessly within your Python code. A big downside is that a working Numpy/Scipy system consists of lots of separate packages that all have to be installed and updated correctly. If you're on Windows, use the "Enthon" package that does this for you. Another downside: no user-friendly 3-D plotting. A good extra is Mlabwrapper (not in Enthon, but easy to install). If you import this module, it will start up Matlab in the background and you can seemlessly use any Matlab command in Python. I have heard something similar exists for R. Don't switch to Scilab, unless the money/open source is your reason. It's a clone, without benefits over Matlab, only drawbacks. Yabonn, I switched from Matlab to Numpy some time ago. Object-oriented programming is really heaven after Matlab, and while its array syntax is less polished than Matlab’s, for the rest Numpy is just as good and fast, plus it has zero-based indexing. And f2py allows you to use Fortran and C routines seemlessly within your Python code.

A big downside is that a working Numpy/Scipy system consists of lots of separate packages that all have to be installed and updated correctly. If you’re on Windows, use the “Enthon” package that does this for you.

Another downside: no user-friendly 3-D plotting.

A good extra is Mlabwrapper (not in Enthon, but easy to install). If you import this module, it will start up Matlab in the background and you can seemlessly use any Matlab command in Python. I have heard something similar exists for R.

Don’t switch to Scilab, unless the money/open source is your reason. It’s a clone, without benefits over Matlab, only drawbacks.

]]> By: vivian http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228395 vivian Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:13:13 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228395 hmm. Doesn't sound like enthusiasm to me. So are we still bashing SPSS or is it economists now? hmm. Doesn’t sound like enthusiasm to me. So are we still bashing SPSS or is it economists now?

]]> By: yabonn http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228370 yabonn Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:35:48 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228370 Matlab spares you lots of the hassle. It's not stat-centric, though : you work on matrices. Heaven for the code line/evaluate line kind of people. But : the editor is bad, and you can't change it if you want to debug too (there's an emacs mode, but yuck). Also, it's more a propotype thing - not the easiest thing to deploy your stuff. I blame, in both case, the fact that it's a commercial product. So, these days I'm thinking of moving to the Python based alternatives (Numpy/Pylab) or to Scilab - nice and free clone. Matlab spares you lots of the hassle. It’s not stat-centric, though : you work on matrices. Heaven for the code line/evaluate line kind of people.

But : the editor is bad, and you can’t change it if you want to debug too (there’s an emacs mode, but yuck). Also, it’s more a propotype thing – not the easiest thing to deploy your stuff. I blame, in both case, the fact that it’s a commercial product.

So, these days I’m thinking of moving to the Python based alternatives (Numpy/Pylab) or to Scilab – nice and free clone.

]]> By: tina http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228366 tina Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:47:02 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228366 Plus, you get to talk like a pirate every time you do stats: "Arrrrr!" Plus, you get to talk like a pirate every time you do stats: “Arrrrr!”

]]> By: Barry http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228345 Barry Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:39:02 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228345 About MATLAB - the University of Michigan is having problems because MATLAB decided to replace departmental licenses (buy rights to run N copies for one code and one line-item charge) with individual copies. This means that the software licensing folks were swamped with trying to process a very large number of individual licenses at the last minute. People like that are begging to scr*w you over. About MATLAB - the University of Michigan is having problems because MATLAB decided to replace departmental licenses (buy rights to run N copies for one code and one line-item charge) with individual copies. This means that the software licensing folks were swamped with trying to process a very large number of individual licenses at the last minute.

People like that are begging to scr*w you over.

]]> By: Barry http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228344 Barry Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:37:35 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228344 "A real question—is R better than APL (which is my fallback all-purpose language)." Posted by SamChevre APL would be a cool, useful and very powerful thing to use back in the 1980's (I encountered it in 1990). It's obsolete now, given all purpose statistical software, MATLAB, R, Maple and Mathematical. “A real question—is R better than APL (which is my fallback all-purpose language).”
Posted by SamChevre

APL would be a cool, useful and very powerful thing to use back in the 1980’s (I encountered it in 1990). It’s obsolete now, given all purpose statistical software, MATLAB, R, Maple and Mathematical.

]]> By: sv http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228341 sv Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:20:18 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228341 re: #20: MATLAB is really powerful, with tons of libraries or 'toolboxes' for specific applications like image processing, statistics, etc. it's relatively easy for a non-programmer to use. i'm an engineer and i've never done anything beyond simple statistical stuff in it, so i dont know how it compares to R on that front. i hadn't heard of R, but reading some basic stuff about it, it looks like it would be better for statistics as long as you're comfortable with object-oriented programming. MATLAB is more shell/scripting style. re: #20: MATLAB is really powerful, with tons of libraries or ‘toolboxes’ for specific applications like image processing, statistics, etc. it’s relatively easy for a non-programmer to use. i’m an engineer and i’ve never done anything beyond simple statistical stuff in it, so i dont know how it compares to R on that front.

i hadn’t heard of R, but reading some basic stuff about it, it looks like it would be better for statistics as long as you’re comfortable with object-oriented programming. MATLAB is more shell/scripting style.

]]> By: SG http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228323 SG Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:33:12 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228323 Regarding r, I just want to say it's really frustrating. I have to use it a lot, and here are my problems so far: 1) it doesn't handle vectors and matrices the same way, so I have to convert vectors into matrices in any function where the row dimension of the input varies 2) sometimes it calculates matrix products as 1x1 matrices, which it does not treat as scalars 3) when I turn it on, the Japanese language comes out as gibberish so I have to go and change the gui preferences first thing - even though I'm using the Japanese language version 4) It frequently doesn't give warnings within functions when small errors occur, instead just returning NAs I spent all last weekend helping a fellow member of my lab implement cox proportional hazards modelling using the Newton-Raphson method, allowing for ties, in R. A large part of my code is peppered with methods to handle these idiosyncracies in matrix mathematics. Also a proper object browser would be nice. I have been having equally frustrating problems with the japanese-language port of latex. Free software may be a cute idea, but all too often it is really, really frustating. Regarding r, I just want to say it’s really frustrating.

I have to use it a lot, and here are my problems so far:

1) it doesn’t handle vectors and matrices the same way, so I have to convert vectors into matrices in any function where the row dimension of the input varies
2) sometimes it calculates matrix products as 1×1 matrices, which it does not treat as scalars
3) when I turn it on, the Japanese language comes out as gibberish so I have to go and change the gui preferences first thing – even though I’m using the Japanese language version
4) It frequently doesn’t give warnings within functions when small errors occur, instead just returning NAs

I spent all last weekend helping a fellow member of my lab implement cox proportional hazards modelling using the Newton-Raphson method, allowing for ties, in R. A large part of my code is peppered with methods to handle these idiosyncracies in matrix mathematics.

Also a proper object browser would be nice.

I have been having equally frustrating problems with the japanese-language port of latex. Free software may be a cute idea, but all too often it is really, really frustating.

]]> By: CB http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228321 CB Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:13:35 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228321 @vivian, Matlab has become very common amongst the kind of economists that used to use Gauss. I take this as a BAD sign. These are the same people who used a clunky package on the grounds of sunk costs. @vivian,
Matlab has become very common amongst the kind of economists that used to use Gauss.

I take this as a BAD sign. These are the same people who used a clunky package on the grounds of sunk costs.

]]> By: Tom Ames http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/comment-page-1/#comment-228318 Tom Ames Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:51:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/2008/02/15/another-reason-to-use-r/#comment-228318 A great R resource is Maindonald's "Data Analysis and Graphics Using R" ("DAAG"). R is quite unlike SAS and SPSS, but that's one of its strengths. Don't expect to just pick it up though: it takes a bit of a mindset readjustment. But I'd rather work in R than in just about any other programming language. A great R resource is Maindonald’s “Data Analysis and Graphics Using R” (“DAAG”).

R is quite unlike SAS and SPSS, but that’s one of its strengths. Don’t expect to just pick it up though: it takes a bit of a mindset readjustment.

But I’d rather work in R than in just about any other programming language.

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