[R] Fortran vs R

[Charles Annis, P.E.]

WARNING!  Biased opinion.

I'm an old guy who learned programming nearly 50 years ago when FORTRAN (IV)
was it, unless you wanted to write machine language which, being an
engineer, I was less interested in than in getting an answer so I could get
on with things.

I like FORTRAN, but I can't think of anything that R couldn't do better and
easier.  R is interpreted and thus is slower than compiled FORTRAN but
unless you have a very (very, very) specific application where you need
compiled speed, R wins by a mile.

Don't learn FORTRAN.  Invest your time in Python if you must learn another
language.  R would be my choice if I were you.

Mister Know-It-All


Charles Annis, P.E.

Charles.Annis at StatisticalEngineering.com
phone: 561-352-9699
eFax:  614-455-3265
http://www.StatisticalEngineering.com
 
-----Original Message-----
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On
Behalf Of Paul Simonin
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 11:13 AM
To: R Help Listserve
Subject: [R] Fortran vs R

Hello R users,
  I have a basic "computer programing" question. I am a student 
currently taking a course that uses Fortran as the main programming 
language, but the instructors are open to students using any language 
they are familiar with. I have used R previously, and am wondering if 
there is any benefit to my learning Fortran, or whether I should stick 
with R for this class. Any advice? Are there clear benefits to using 
Fortran, or things Fortran can do that R cannot?
Thank you very much for any thoughts!
Sincerely,
Paul S.

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