What can you do with the programming language ‘R’?

In recent years, words such as statistical analysis and data science have become a boom. Some say that the most sexy profession in the 21st century is the data scientist.

Meanwhile, the programming language, “R” has gained attention because it is a language specialized for statistical analysis. The related books can be found more often in bookstores. Although there are various theories, it is said that “R” comes from the initials of its founders Ross Ihaka and Robert Clifford Gentleman.

Therefore, what can we do with the language, “R”?

Things the language, “R” can do

Things some programming languages, “R” can do will be introduced here!

1: Statistical analysis

What “R” can do is statistical analysis more than anything. The “R” is useful for visualizing, and there are various statistical packages available.

2: Interactive

Executing “R” interactively can be done.

3: Correspondence of Japanese language

Since Names of functions and variable as well as comments etc. are available in Japanese, it is easy to use for Japanese people.

Difference with EXCEL

What the R language is suitable for statistical analysis has been explained so far, but some may question regarding differences with EXCEL. Therefore, differences of these two would be explained.  

1: EXCEL is pre-installed

In the case of EXCEL, it is often pre-installed on your computer. Therefore, even if there are many people who have ever played with EXCEL, the number of people who have experiences of “R” suddenly drops.

2: A wide range of people can use EXCEL easily

EXCEL is designed to be used by a wide range of people such as office workers, housewives, and students etc. On the other hand, use of R is for business people.

3: R language is easy to grasp situations

If others analyze with EXCEL, it would be difficult to figure out what was trying to do. However, when using the R language, you can get some clues by tracking the code.

Differences with programming language, “Python”

Speaking of data science, recently it is often linked with the programming language, “Python”.

However,what are difference between these two?

1: Python is versatile

The programming language,”Python” is more versatile and of course you can also create web applications. On the other hand, since the R language is specialized for statistical analysis, the purpose would be limited.

2: Upon installment, R language can be used immediately

However, R language also has advantages. If you’ve ever programmed, you would know how hard the process from installment to initial configuration for the most programming languages is. On that point, R language can be used immediately upon its installment.

Summary

Since R is suitable for statistical analysis, it is essential for data science that is a trend nowadays. On the other hand, there are also cases that Python which is also suitable for data science can do, but R cannot.

However, if you focus on the statistical analysis, the R language would be much easier to understand. Therefore, please sort out for what purpose you want to start with programming.