[R] Confusing concept of vector and matrix in R

[Rolf Turner]

On 30/03/2010, at 10:04 PM, Barry Rowlingson wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 2:42 AM, Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> 
>> Well then, why don't you go away and design and build your own statistics and
>> data analysis language/package to replace R?  You can then make whatever
>> design decisions you like, and you won't have to live with the design decisions
>> made by such silly and inept people as John Chambers and Rick Becker and their ilk.
> 
> Aah, argument by (ironic) reference to learned authority!

Not at all.  I was not arguing about the correctness of the design, decisions.
I was objecting to the churlish tone and the fatuousness of the complaint.  The
design decisions, right or wrong, were taken a long time ago, and are impossible
to change now.  So if you don't like 'em, there's now't to be done but go build
your own package.

That being said, learned authority is not always correct but has a strong tendency
to be so.  Decisions made by learned authority may be disputed but one should be
very sure that one knows what the whuck (Maori spelling :-) ) one is talking about
before disputing.  Cf. fortune("matter of opinion").

As regards features of R flustering comp-sci people:  So many dysfunctional pieces
of software are designed by arrogant computer scientists who do not actually *use*
that software, do not know the background of the area of application, and do not
understand the area of application.  I'll go with stats software designed by
statisticians rather than computer scientists any day.  Who designed Excel?

	cheers,

		Rolf
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