Jump to content

R (programming language)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Manop (talk | contribs) at 12:49, 5 July 2012 (adding th). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

R
Paradigmmulti-paradigm: array, object-oriented, imperative, functional, procedural, reflective
Designed byRoss Ihaka and Robert Gentleman
DeveloperR Development Core Team
First appeared1993[1]
Stable release
2.15.1 / June 22, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06-22)
Preview release
Through Subversion
Typing disciplineDynamic
OSCross-platform
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitewww.r-project.org
Influenced by
S, Scheme

R is an open source programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software[2][3] and data analysis.[3]

R is an implementation of the S programming language combined with lexical scoping semantics inspired by Scheme. S was created by John Chambers while at Bell Labs. R was created by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman[4] at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and now, R is developed by the R Development Core Team, of which Chambers is a member. R is named partly after the first names of the first two R authors (Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka), and partly as a play on the name of S.[5]

R is part of the GNU project.[6][7] The source code for the R software environment is written primarily in C, Fortran, and R.[8] R is freely available under the GNU General Public License, and pre-compiled binary versions are provided for various operating systems. R uses a command line interface; however, several graphical user interfaces are available for use with R.

Statistical features

R provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques, including linear and nonlinear modeling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, and others. R is easily extensible through functions and extensions, and the R community is noted for its active contributions in terms of packages. There are some important differences, but much code written for S runs unaltered. Many of R's standard functions are written in R itself, which makes it easy for users to follow the algorithmic choices made. For computationally intensive tasks, C, C++, and Fortran code can be linked and called at run time. Advanced users can write C or Java[9] code to manipulate R objects directly.

R is highly extensible through the use of user-submitted packages for specific functions or specific areas of study. Due to its S heritage, R has stronger object-oriented programming facilities than most statistical computing languages. Extending R is also eased by its permissive lexical scoping rules.[10]

According to Rexer's Annual Data Miner Survey in 2010, R has become the data mining tool used by more data miners (43%) than any other.[11]

Another strength of R is static graphics, which can produce publication-quality graphs, including mathematical symbols. Dynamic and interactive graphics are available through additional packages.[12]

R has its own LaTeX-like documentation format, which is used to supply comprehensive documentation, both on-line in a number of formats and in hard copy.

Programming features

R is an interpreted language typically used through a command line interpreter. If one types "2+2" at the command prompt and presses enter, the computer replies with "4". 

> 2+2
[1] 4

Like many other languages, R supports matrix arithmetic. R's data structures include scalars, vectors, matrices, data frames (similar to tables in a relational database) and lists.[13] The R object system is extensible and includes objects for, among others, regression models, time-series and geo-spatial coordinates.

R supports procedural programming with functions and, for some functions, object-oriented programming with generic functions. A generic function acts differently depending on the type of arguments it is passed. In other words the generic function dispatches the function (method) specific to that type of object. For example, R has a generic print() function that can print almost every type of object in R with a simple "print(objectname)" syntax.

Although R is mostly used by statisticians and other practitioners requiring an environment for statistical computation and software development, it can also be used as a general matrix calculation toolbox with performance benchmarks comparable to GNU Octave or MATLAB.[14]

Examples

Example 1

The following examples illustrate the basic syntax of the language and use of the command-line interface.

In R, the widely preferred[15][16][17][18] assignment operator is an arrow made from two characters "<-", although "=" can be used instead.[19] 

> x <- c(1,2,3,4,5,6)   # Create ordered collection (vector)
> y <- x^2              # Square the elements of x
> print(y)              # print (vector) y
[1]  1  4  9 16 25 36
> mean(y)               # Calculate average (arithmetic mean) of (vector) y; result is scalar
[1] 15.16667
> var(y)                # Calculate sample variance
[1] 178.9667
> lm_1 <- lm(y ~ x)     # Fit a linear regression model "y = f(x)" or "y = B0 + (B1 * x)" 
                        # store the results as lm_1
> print(lm_1)           # Print the model from the (linear model object) lm_1

Call:
lm(formula = y ~ x)

Coefficients:
(Intercept)            x  
     -9.333        7.000 

> summary(lm_1)          # Compute and print statistics for the fit
                         # of the (linear model object) lm_1

Call:
lm(formula = y ~ x)

Residuals:
1       2       3       4       5       6
3.3333 -0.6667 -2.6667 -2.6667 -0.6667  3.3333

Coefficients:
            Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept)  -9.3333     2.8441  -3.282 0.030453 *
x             7.0000     0.7303   9.585 0.000662 ***
---
Signif. codes:  0 ‘***’ 0.001 ‘**’ 0.01 ‘*’ 0.05 ‘.’ 0.1 ‘ ’ 1

Residual standard error: 3.055 on 4 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-squared: 0.9583,	Adjusted R-squared: 0.9478
F-statistic: 91.88 on 1 and 4 DF,  p-value: 0.000662

> par(mfrow=c(2, 2))     # Request 2x2 plot layout
> plot(lm_1)             # Diagnostic plot of regression model

Diagnostic graphs produced by plot.lm() function. Features include mathematical notation in axis labels, as at lower left.

Example 2

Short R code calculating Mandelbrot set through the first 20 iterations of equation z = z² + c plotted for different complex constants c. This example demonstrates:

  • use of community developed external libraries (called packages), in this case caTools package
  • handling of complex numbers
  • multidimensional arrays of numbers used as basic data type, see variables C, Z and X
library(caTools)         # external package providing write.gif function
jet.colors <- colorRampPalette(c("#00007F", "blue", "#007FFF", "cyan", "#7FFF7F", 
                                 "yellow", "#FF7F00", "red", "#7F0000")) 
m <- 1200                # define size
C <- complex( real=rep(seq(-1.8,0.6, length.out=m), each=m ), 
              imag=rep(seq(-1.2,1.2, length.out=m), m ) ) 
C <- matrix(C,m,m)       # reshape as square matrix of complex numbers
Z <- 0                   # initialize Z to zero
X <- array(0, c(m,m,20)) # initialize output 3D array
for (k in 1:20) {        # loop with 20 iterations
  Z <- Z^2+C             # the central difference equation  
  X[,,k] <- exp(-abs(Z)) # capture results
} 
write.gif(X, "Mandelbrot.gif", col=jet.colors, delay=100)

"Mandelbrot.gif" – Graphics created in R with 14 lines of code in Example 2

Packages

The capabilities of R are extended through user-created packages, which allow specialized statistical techniques, graphical devices, import/export capabilities, reporting tools, etc. These packages are developed primarily in R, and sometimes in Java, C and Fortran. A core set of packages are included with the installation of R, with 5300 additional packages (as of April 2012) available at the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN), Bioconductor, and other repositories. [20]

The "Task Views" page (subject list) on the CRAN website lists the wide range of applications (Finance, Genetics, Machine Learning, Medical Imaging, Social Sciences and Spatial statistics) to which R has been applied and for which packages are available.

Other R package resources include Crantastic, a community site for rating and reviewing all CRAN packages, and also R-Forge, a central platform for the collaborative development of R packages, R-related software, and projects. It hosts many unpublished, beta packages, and development versions of CRAN packages.

The Bioconductor project provides R packages for the analysis of genomic data, such as Affymetrix and cDNA microarray object-oriented data handling and analysis tools, and has started to provide tools for analysis of data from next-generation high-throughput sequencing methods.

Reproducible research and automated report generation can be accomplished with packages that support execution of R code embedded within LaTeX, OpenDocument format and other markups.[21]

Milestones

The full list of changes is maintained in the NEWS file. Some highlights are listed below.

  • Version 0.16 – This is the last alpha version developed primarily by Ihaka and Gentleman. Much of the basic functionality from the "White Book" (see S history) was implemented. The mailing lists commenced on April 1, 1997.
  • Version 0.49 – April 23, 1997 – This is the oldest available source release, and compiles on a limited number of Unix-like platforms. CRAN is started on this date, with 3 mirrors that initially hosted 12 packages. Alpha versions of R for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS are made available shortly after this version.
  • Version 0.60 – December 5, 1997 – R becomes an official part of the GNU Project. The code is hosted and maintained on CVS.
  • Version 1.0.0 – February 29, 2000 – Considered by its developers stable enough for production use.[22]
  • Version 1.4.0 – S4 methods are introduced and the first version for Mac OS X is made available soon after.
  • Version 2.0.0 – October 4, 2004 – Introduced lazy loading, which enables fast loading of data with minimal expense of system memory.
  • Version 2.1.0 – Support for UTF-8 encoding, and the beginnings of internationalization and localization for different languages.
  • Version 2.11.0 – April 22, 2010 – Support for Windows 64 bit systems.
  • Version 2.13.0 – April 14, 2011 – Adding a new compiler function that allows speeding up functions by converting them to byte-code.
  • Version 2.14.0 – October 31, 2011 – Added mandatory namespaces for packages. Added a new parallel package.
  • Version 2.15.0 – March 30, 2012 – Added further namespace requirement for data-only packages.
  • Version 2.15.1 – June, 2012 – Fixed several bugs, including one related to the ".Internal" function as called from "source()".

Interfaces

Graphical user interfaces

  • RGUI – comes with the pre-compiled version of R (for Windows).
  • Java Gui for R – cross-platform stand-alone R terminal and editor based on Java (also known as JGR).
  • Deducer – GUI for menu driven data analysis (similar to SPSS/JMP/Minitab).
  • Rattle GUI – cross-platform GUI based on RGtk2 and specifically designed for data mining.
  • R Commander – cross-platform menu-driven GUI based on tcltk (several plug-ins to Rcmdr are also available).
  • RapidMiner[23][24]
  • RExcel – using R and Rcmdr from within Microsoft Excel.
  • RKWard – extensible GUI and IDE for R.
  • RStudio – cross-platform open source IDE (which can also be run on a remote linux server).
  • Revolution Analytics (http://www.revolutionanalytics.com/) provides a Visual Studio based IDE and has plans for web based point and click interface.
  • Tinn-R– an efficient replacement to RGui that provides customizable syntax highlighting similar to that of MATLAB
  • Weka[25] allows for the use of the data mining capabilities in Weka and statistical analysis in R.

Editors and IDEs

Text editors and Integrated development environments (IDEs) with some support for R include: RStudio,[26] Bluefish,[27] Crimson Editor, ConTEXT, Eclipse,[28] Emacs (Emacs Speaks Statistics), Vim, Geany, jEdit,[29] Kate,[30] R Productivity Environment (part of Revolution R Enterprise),[31] TextMate, gedit, SciTE, WinEdt (R Package RWinEdt), and Notepad++.[32]

Scripting languages

R functionality has been made accessible from several scripting languages such as Python (by the RPy[33] interface package), Perl (by the Statistics::R[34] module), and Ruby (with the rsruby[35] rubygem). PL/R can be used alongside, or instead of, the PL/pgSQL scripting language in the PostgreSQL database management system. Scripting in R itself is possible via littler[36] as well as via Rscript.

useR! conferences

"useR!" is the name given to the official annual gathering of R users. The first such event was useR! 2004 in May 2004, Vienna, Austria, which lasted three days.[37] Since then, there have been 7 useR meetings around the world.[38]

The program of all conferences so far consists of two parts:

  • Invited talks discussing new R developments and exciting applications of R; and
  • User-contributed presentations reflecting the wide range of fields in which R is used to analyze data.

A major goal of the useR! conference is to bring users from various fields together and provide a platform for discussion and exchange of ideas: both in the formal framework of presentations as well as in the informal times surrounding the conference sessions.

Here is the list of useR! conference:

  • useR! 2004, Vienna, Austria Austria
  • useR! 2006, Vienna, Austria Austria
  • useR! 2007, Ames, Iowa, USA United States
  • useR! 2008, Dortmund, Germany Germany
  • useR! 2009, Rennes, France France
  • useR! 2010, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA United States
  • useR! 2011, Coventry, United Kingdom United Kingdom
  • useR! 2012, Nashville, Tennessee, USA United States

Comparison with SAS, SPSS and Stata

The general consensus is that R compares well with other popular statistical packages, such as SAS, SPSS and Stata.[39] In January 2009, the New York Times ran an article about R gaining acceptance among data analysts and presenting a potential threat for the market share occupied by commercial statistical packages, such as SAS.[40]

Commercial support for R

In 2007, Revolution Analytics was founded to provide commercial support for Revolution R, its distribution of R which also includes components developed by the company. Major additional components include: ParallelR,[41] the R Productivity Environment IDE,[42] RevoScaleR (for big data analysis),[43] RevoDeployR,[44] web services framework, and the ability for reading and writing data in the SAS file format.[45]

In October 2011, Oracle announced the Big Data Appliance, which integrates R, Apache Hadoop, Oracle Enterprise Linux, and a NoSQL database with the Exadata hardware.[46][47]

Other major commercial software systems supporting connections to R include: JMP,[48] MATLAB,[49] Spotfire,[50] SPSS,[51] STATISTICA,[52] Platform Symphony,[53] and SAS.[54]

See also

References

  1. ^ A Brief History R: Past and Future History, Ross Ihaka, Statistics Department, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, available from the CRAN website
  2. ^ Fox, John and Andersen, Robert (January 2005). "Using the R Statistical Computing Environment to Teach Social Statistics Courses" (PDF). Department of Sociology, McMaster University. Retrieved August 3, 2006. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Vance, Ashlee (January 6, 2009). "Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power". New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2009. R is also the name of a popular programming language used by a growing number of data analysts inside corporations and academia. It is becoming their lingua franca...
  4. ^ "Robert Gentleman's home page". Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  5. ^ Kurt Hornik. The R FAQ: Why is R named R?. ISBN 3-900051-08-9. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  6. ^ "Free Software Foundation (FSF) Free Software Directory: GNU R". Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  7. ^ "What is R?". Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  8. ^ "How Much of R Is Written in R". Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  9. ^ Duncan Temple Lang, Calling R from Java (PDF)
  10. ^ Jackman, Simon (Spring 2003). "R For the Political Methodologist" (PDF). The Political Methodologist. 11 (1). Political Methodology Section, American Political Science Association: 20–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2006. Retrieved August 3, 2006.
  11. ^ Rexer Analytics 4th Annual Data Miner Survey - 2010
  12. ^ "CRAN Task View: Graphic Displays & Dynamic Graphics & Graphic Devices & Visualization". The Comprehensive R Archive Network. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  13. ^ Dalgaard, Peter (2002). Introductory Statistics with R. New York, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. pp. 10–18, 34. ISBN 0387954759. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ "Speed comparison of various number crunching packages (version 2)". SciView. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  15. ^ R Development Core Team. "Writing R Extensions". Retrieved June 14, 2012. [...] we recommend the consistent use of the preferred assignment operator '<-' (rather than '=') for assignment. {{cite web}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  16. ^ "Google's R Style Guide". Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  17. ^ Wickham, Hadley. "Style Guide". Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  18. ^ Bengtsson, Henrik. "R Coding Conventions (RCC) - a draft". Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  19. ^ "Assignments with the = Operator". Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  20. ^ Robert A. Muenchen. "The Popularity of Data Analysis Software".
  21. ^ CRAN Task View: Reproducible Research
  22. ^ Peter Dalgaard. "R-1.0.0 is released". Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  23. ^ R Extension Presented on RCOMM 2010
  24. ^ "Data Mining / Analytic Tools Used Poll (May 2010)".
  25. ^ "RWeka: An R Interface to Weka. R package version 0.3–17". Kurt Hornik, Achim Zeileis, Torsten Hothorn and Christian Buchta. Retrieved 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  26. ^ JJ Alaire and colleages. "RStudio: new IDE for R". Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  27. ^ Customizable syntax highlighting based on Perl Compatible regular expressions, with subpattern support and default patterns for..R, tenth bullet point, Bluefish Features, Bluefish website, retrieved 2008-07-09.
  28. ^ Stephan Wahlbrink. "StatET: Eclipse based IDE for R". Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  29. ^ Jose Claudio Faria. "R syntax". Retrieved November 3, 2007.
  30. ^ "Syntax Highlighting". Kate Development Team. Archived from the original on July 7, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2008.
  31. ^ "R Productivity Environment". Revolution Analytics. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  32. ^ "NppToR: R in Notepad++". sourceforge.net. Retrieved July 11, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |unused_data= ignored (help)
  33. ^ RPy home page
  34. ^ Statistics::R page on CPAN
  35. ^ RSRuby rubyforge project
  36. ^ littler web site
  37. ^ useR 2004
  38. ^ useR! – International R User Conference
  39. ^ Comparison of R to SAS, Stata and SPSS
  40. ^ Vance, Ashlee (January 7, 2009). "Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power". The New York Times.
  41. ^ REvolution Computing's New ParallelR Version 1.2 Product Enhances Statistical Analyses Through Parallelization of Multiprocessors
  42. ^ Revolutions: RPE: the R Productivity Environment for Windows
  43. ^ Revolution Analytics Brings Big Data Analysis to R
  44. ^ Revolutions: Introducing RevoDeployR: Web Services for R
  45. ^ 'Red Hat for stats' goes toe-to-toe with SAS
  46. ^ Oracle Unveils the Oracle Big Data Appliance
  47. ^ Oracle rolls its own NoSQL and Hadoop
  48. ^ JMP for Analytical Application Development
  49. ^ MATLAB R Link
  50. ^ Spotfire Integration with S+ and R
  51. ^ RSS Matters
  52. ^ R Language Platform | StatSoft
  53. ^ R” integrated with Symphony
  54. ^ Calling Functions in the R Language (SAS/IML)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to R (programming language).
  • Official website of the R project
  • The R wiki, a community wiki for R
  • R books, has extensive list (with brief comments) of R-related books
  • The R Graphical Manual, a collection of R graphics from all R packages, and an index to all functions in all R packages
  • R seek, a custom frontend to Google search engine, to assist in finding results related to the R language
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R_(programming_language)&oldid=500792756"