[R-sig-finance] R vs. S-PLUS

[My Newletters Etc.]

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 08:47:12 -0500, David Kane <dave at kanecap.com> wrote:

> Yasser El-Zein writes:
>  > I am at a cross-road where I have to make a decision of going with R
>  > or S-PLUS. I am mainly interested in S+'s finmetrics library or R's
>  > Rmetrics. Can you please help me out by stating, out of experience,
>  > the pros and cons of each?
>
> Alas, I have never used finmetrics and have only touched on Rmetrics,
> but I have used R in a production environment in the financial world
> for 3+ years. There is no doubt in my mind that, for serious
> statistical/computational work in finance, R is the best choice.
>
> In terms of specific pros/cons, I would highlight the trajectory of R
> over the last few years compared to the (much lower) trajectory of
> S+. If R improves half as much (relative to S+) in the next 3 years as
> it has over the last 3, the comparison between the two won't even be
> worth discussing.
>
> If you don't go with R now, you will someday.
>
> Just my 2 cents,
>
> David Kane
>

Hi David,

I'm wondering if you might be willing to share some specifics about
your use of R.  For example, what types of analysis have you done
with R?  Have you used pre-defined "packages" or have you "rolled
your own?"  Do you have any pointers about how to most effectively
approach learning R?  Hopefully these questions are sufficient
to give you a feel for the direction of my inquiry.

I'd be appreciative of any comments, suggestions, or insights
you are willing to share.

Thanks.

/JF