[R] how to keep up with R?

[Robin Hankin]

Adaikalavan Ramasamy wrote:
> I agree! The best way to learn (and remember for longer) is to teach 
> someone else about it.
>
> And there is not reason not to repeat some of the anlysis done on SAS 
> with R. That way you can verify your outputs or compare the 
> presentations. If you consistently find differences in the outputs, 
> then trying to figure out the reason may lead you to better understand 
> the methods (e.g. different optimization or estimation procedures).
>

My take on this:

I have repeatedly found that it is surprisingly easy to improve on 
existing (non-R) implementations
of statistical and non-statistical computation, when working  in R.

Something about the structure of the language, something about the 
package mechanism,
something about R-help, something about R-core, something about 
open-source, something
about JSS or R-news, whatever it is, there is SOMETHING ABOUT R which 
lends itself
to straightforward production of quality software.  And that something 
is missing from other
programming languages, IMO.



rksh



> Regards, Adai
>
>
>
> Barry Rowlingson wrote:
>> 2008/9/19 Wensui Liu <liuwensui at gmail.com>:
>>> Dear Listers,
>>>
>>> I've been a big fan of R since graduate school. After working in the
>>> industry for years, I haven't had many opportunities to use R and am 
>>> mainly
>>> using SAS. However, I am still forcing myself really hard to stay 
>>> close to R
>>> by reading R-help and books and writing R code by myself for fun. 
>>> But by and
>>> by, I start realizing I have hard time to keep up with R and am 
>>> afraid that
>>> I would totally forget how to program in R.
>>>
>>> I really like it and am very unwilling to give it up. Is there any 
>>> idea how
>>> I might keep touch with R without using it in work on daily basis? I 
>>> really
>>> appreciate it.
>>>

-- 
Robin K. S. Hankin
Senior Research Associate
Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research (4CMR)
Faculty of Economics
The University of Cambridge
rksh1 at cam.ac.uk
01223-764877