Charles,
I don't consider packages as up-grades, i consider them as enhancements .....
When a new R version is in place you cannot up-grade your old R version, you
have to do a new installation and re-load all the packages you used to have and
delete / un-install the old version.... of course you can customize how you do
this but it is not an up-grade per se as you would go for example from
"softname" v.3 to "softname" v.4 using an up-grad einstead of a full
installation version. New versions of R are always full versions ..... while
this does not bother me a bit since now i have a way of installing everything
with very little hassle, it may confuse and even frustrate others less
dedicated to using R. So - in my opinion - for a novice in R this might be a
"minus".
Monica> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; r-help@r-project.org>
Subject: RE: [R] Pros and Cons of R> Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 12:24:49 -0400> >
What do you mean, "there are no up-grades?" There are 1,401 ancillary> packages
- all free. That sounds like upgrades to me.> > Of course there is no *perfect*
beginner's book, but Peter Dalgaard's> Introductory Statistics with R
(Paperback), Springer, 3d printing edition> (January 9, 2004) is pretty close.
If you don't know much statistics, it> will teach you statistics while teaching
you R. If you already know> statistics, it will demonstrate how to do familiar
things using R.> > > Charles Annis, P.E.> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> phone:
561-352-9699> eFax: 614-455-3265> http://www.StatisticalEngineering.com> > >
-----Original Message-----> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On> Behalf Of Monica Pisica> Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 12:00 PM> To:
r-help@r-project.org> Subject: [R] Pros and Cons of R> > > Hi,> > I am doing a
very informal presentation for my office about R capabilities> to deal with and
analyze spatial data, display data and maps, and> connections with GIS. I've
used in my presentation info from the CRAN, the> spatial Task view, and the
more striking graphics examples from>
http://addictedtor.free.fr/graphiques/thumbs.php and NCEAS>
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/scicomp/GISSeminar/UseCases/MapProdWithRGraphics/O>
neMapProdWithRGraphics.html together with examples of my own work.> > I am
finishing with pros and cons about R and I am wondering if you can come> up
with other examples, or comments. Here they are:> > Pros:> > - R is a
programming environment well suited for statistical analysis.> - R is open
source and cross platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux).> - Fortran, C (C++), and
Python wrappers are in place.> - Deals well with spatial data, has a robust
graphical interface and has an> active user group list / forum.> - External
packages for R are almost daily increasing, most of them based on> published
up-to-date books and peer-reviewed articles.> - R related books - quite a few
..> > Cons:> > - R has a very steep learning curve.> - There is no perfect
"beginner" book.> - Experience with other programming languages is a plus /
minus.> - You can save scripts, but not *.exe.> - It is updated several times a
year (good) but there are no up-grades.> - It seems that it is hard to install
correctly under Linux.> - Everything you want to do is a command line, minimal
GUI.> - Memory management problems (depends on your OS), especially when>
displaying big images at high resolution or working with huge matrices>
(hundreds of Mb).> > Also i am wondering if R works under 64 bit computers and
if it takes> advantage of it.> > Thanks,> > Monica> >
_________________________________________________________________> > >
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https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help> PLEASE do read the posting guide
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