[R] Do you use R for data manipulation?

[Peter Flom]

Simon Pickett <simon.pickett at bto.org> wrote

>My institute uses SAS religiously, I am the only R "heathen".
>
>I have resisted learning to use SAS because I dont see the point after years 
>of using R and I like being able to do everything using one program. 
>However, my colleagues maintain that SAS is "better" for programming without 
>really ever giving me a good reason why other than memory issues.
>
>dont want to hi-jack the thread but would be interested in hearing some 
>other views, especially since my organisation spends (wastes?) alot of money 
>every year on SAS licences...
>


I think that, to find out what SAS can do that R can't, or vice versa,
you'd have to ask both SAS-L and R-help for some challenging data
manipulation problems.

Asking only on R-help, you will (naturally) get people who use R a lot
and like it, and have figured out ways to do things with it.  Similarly
if you asked only on SAS-L, you will find people who use SAS.

I have read a couple of statistics books where the authors use both, because they
find SAS easier for some things (principally data manipulation and textual output) and
R easier for others (especially fancy statistics and graphics).

Peter

Peter L. Flom, PhD
Statistical Consultant
www DOT peterflomconsulting DOT com