[R] A comment about R

[Patrick Burns]

John Maindonald wrote:

> ...
>
>(4) When should students start learning R?
>
>[Students should get their first exposure to a high-level programming  
>language, in the style of R then Python or Octave, at age 11-14.   
>There are now good alternatives to the former use of Fortran or  
>Pascal, languages which have for good reason dropped out of favour  
>for learning experience. They should start on R while their minds are  
>still malleable, and long before they need it for serious research use.]
>  
>

I think 11-14 years old might better be halved.  Kids are
playing very complicated video games barely after they
learn to walk.

R is a quite reasonable programming language for children.
You don't need to worry about low-level issues, and it is
easy to produce graphics with it.

Patrick Burns
patrick at burns-stat.com
+44 (0)20 8525 0696
http://www.burns-stat.com
(home of S Poetry and "A Guide for the Unwilling S User")