 |  R (and
S-Plus)
R, or GNU-S, is a free (note there is no qualification, it is
completely free) statistical package that provides an
impressive array of methods for data analysis, interpretation,
and graphical display. Based on the S language first
developed by Bell Labs decades ago, it is quite simply the most
advanced of what we have access to of the general purpose
packages for academic research, and for anyone wanting to keep up with the times it is
the package of choice, bar none.
R however does take a bit to become comfortable with compared to some
packages
as it is primarily command line driven,
and as such we are willing to go the extra mile for those who
would like to learn it and use it for their research purposes.
However, it should be stressed that one can use it in a very
applied fashion, only taking from it what is necessary for the
data situation at hand and there are many packages that offer
dropdown menu capability. In other words, you do not have
to become a computer programmer to take advantage of its
functionality. In the end though, if you want
to use methods that have been developed in the last 30 years and
take advantage of today's computing power, this is the
package for you, and the big packages like SAS and SPSS lag far
behind its capabilities for the academic researcher.
S-Plus can be seen as a proprietary version of the S language,
with its most noticeable difference being that it comes with a
sophisticated gui out of the box.
S-Plus and R are very compatible with one another in most
respects, however R has near daily updates and many, many more
packages and offerings.
- Other notes:
- You do not have to come to us to obtain R. It is free
to all.
- SPSS, starting with version 16, now has the ability to run R
scripts as long as R version 2.5 is installed on the machine.
However, if you know how to use R, there is little to no reason
to use SPSS.
R
Download Site for the Current Windows Install Binary and R
Packages
Free R Books and Tutorials
Script editor
- Tinn-R:
don't let the command line get you down, use R's built
in script-editor at the very least, but Tinn-R has many
more features.
Web Interfaces to R Web Servers and Example R Scripts
- R Web
Interface - Run R programs from any machine through the web
-
Example R Scripts - Some of these scripts run on a server
and results are communicated thru a web browser
RSS Matters Articles Using or
Regarding R
R and Survey
Analysis
R, R(D)COM and Excel
R News
S-Plus
General links
S-PLUS Student Edition Download (Free)
- Student Edition-
This version of S-Plus has a 20,000 cell or 1,000 row
limitation; is only for educational use; is good for only one
year; and is a rather large download (100+ meg).
- If you prefer a cd one can be purchased at the bookstore.
S-PLUS Free Experimental Libraries and User Contributed
Libraries
Web link for
requesting support and/or appointments with RSS staff
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