[R-sig-Geo] Spatial data analysis in MATLAB / Comparison of MATLAB vs R

[Barry Rowlingson]

2009/1/20 Tomislav Hengl <T.Hengl at uva.nl>:

> I am preparing to teach spatial data analysis at BSc level (environmental and Earth sciences). The
> study programme is completely based on MATLAB, which means that I will also need to adjust (I do not
> have much experience with MATLAB).

 If you convert your entire study programme to R you'll annoy your
colleagues who have to learn and rewrite their courses in R. If you
just convert your spatial data analysis module to R you'll annoy your
students who'll have to learn R for this and MATLAB for everything
else. You choose :)

 Ideally all your colleagues will take to R and feel joy at the
prospect of learning new software and rewriting course notes - but how
often does that happen?

 As a first step you could try introducing Scilab or Octave to the
students so they can use a MATLAB-ish package at zero cost.

 For our undergrad maths course they use Scilab for linear
algebra-type stuff, R for stats, and Maxima for computer algebra. You
may need to really rework your programme if you want to use just R
throughout. It could be worth it.

 Don't forget the big argument. R is free and open source - it can,
like the research we publish, be freely shared. For me that's
ultimately compelling - if it's not open, it's not science; and if
it's not science, it's not a BSc.

Barry