R is a widely used open source language for scientific computing and visualization. It is based on the S language (S: An Interactive Environment for Data Analysis and Graphics, R. A. Becker and J. M. Chambers, Wadsworth, 1984), but with a few paradigms adopted from the Lisp family of languages.
R began its life in 1992, when Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman started a project that ultimately evolved into what it is now. In the early days, their main goal was to develop something that was like S, but which had clearer underlying semantics. Around the same time, other major changes were taking place: the world wide web was quickly gaining steam, and a new open source operating system named Linux (with major components from the GNU project) was becoming a popular tool for academic researchers. With these advances, it made sense to make the software more widely available, and hence it needed a name. In part to reflect its heritage, and in part to reflect their contributions, Ross and Robert...
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Gentleman, R., Huber, W., Carey, V.J. (2011). R Language. In: Lovric, M. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_498
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