[R] What makes R different from other programming languages?

[Alexandre Aguiar]

cberry at tajo.ucsd.edu escreveu:
>"This rather unlikely linguistic cocktail would probably never have
>been prepared by computer scientists, yet the language has become
>surprisingly popular."


A linguist that is a good friend once observed that language is both expression and a modeller of how we think. No matter in which extent each one is true, the 'expression' property has some compelling evidence in support: it has been demonstrated that human babies generate the same words and phonemes without regard to the culture of their parents, that is, everywhere babies generate a common babies' language.

In everyday life, each profession has its technical jargon and even a peculiar slang (not to mention the set of jokes :-) ). In computing, it is remarkable that different languages developed by the same person are extremely similar: Nicklaus Wirth's Pascal and Modula 2 have almost identical syntax, use the same function naming and  calling conventions, etc.

>From this angle, it does not look strange that R is peculiar and can even be regarded as a new, more free paradigm with regard to control structures and yet hold all the features of a structured language. And although a procedural language there are some instances in which R resembles a declarative language (IMHO, this could be extended, enhanced :-D).



--

Alexandre Aguiar, MD SCT
SPS Consultoria

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