98 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
98 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
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THE BASIC R README
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(See "doc/FAQ" and "doc/RESOURCES" for more detailed information
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- these files are only in the tarballs)
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(See "INSTALL" for help on installation)
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1. INTRODUCTION
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This directory contains the source code tree for R, which is a
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language which is not entirely unlike (versions 3 and 4 of) the S
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language developed at AT&T Bell Laboratories by Rick Becker, John
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Chambers and Allan Wilks.
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R is free software distributed under a GNU-style copyleft.
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The core of R is an interpreted computer language with a syntax
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superficially similar to C, but which is actually a "functional
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programming language" with capabilities similar to Scheme. The
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language allows branching and looping as well as modular programming
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using functions. Most of the user-visible functions in R are written
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in R, calling upon a smaller set of internal primitives. It is
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possible for the user to interface to procedures written in C or
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Fortran languages for efficiency, and also to write additional
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primitives.
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The R distribution contains functionality for a large number of
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statistical procedures. Among these are: linear and generalized
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linear models, nonlinear regression models, time series analysis,
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classical parametric and nonparametric tests, clustering and
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smoothing. There is also a large set of functions which provide a
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flexible graphical environment for creating various kinds of data
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presentations.
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A package specification allows the production of loadable modules for
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specific purposes, and several thousand contributed packages are made
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available through the CRAN sites (see
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https://CRAN.R-project.org/mirrors.html for the current members).
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2. HISTORY
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R was initially written by Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka of the
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Statistics Department of the University of Auckland. In addition, a
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large group of individuals has contributed to R by sending code and bug
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reports.
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Since mid-1997 there has been a core group who can modify the R source
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code archive, listed in file doc/AUTHORS.
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R 1.0.0 was released on 29 February 2000 and 2.0.0 on 4 October 2004.
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R 3.0.0 came out on 3 April 2013.
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This file has been minimally revised since the release of R 1.0.0.
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3. PRESENT STATUS
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The present version implements most of the functionality in the 1988
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book "The New S Language" (the "Blue Book") and many of the
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applications. In addition, we have implemented a large part of the
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functionality from the 1992 book "Statistical Models in S" (the "White
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Book") and the 1998 book "Programming with Data" (the "Green Book").
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All the R functions have been documented in the form of help pages in
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an "output independent" form which can be used to create versions for
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HTML, PDF, text etc. A 1900+ page Reference Index (a collection of
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most of the help pages: there is also a 3300+ page version with all
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the help pages, including recommended packages) can be obtained in
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PDF. The manual `An Introduction to R' provides a more user-friendly
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starting point, and there is an FAQ, a draft `R Language Definition'
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manual and more specialized manuals on admininstration, data
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import/export and extending R. See INSTALL for instructions on how to
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generate these documents.
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4. GOALS
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Our aim at the start of this project was to demonstrate that it was
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possible to produce an S-like environment which did not suffer from
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the memory-demands and performance problems which S has. Somewhat
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later, we started to turn R into a "real" system, but unfortunately we
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lost a large part of the efficiency advantage in the process, so have
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revised the memory management mechanism and implemented delayed
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loading of R objects. A lot of performance tuning has been done,
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including the ability to use tuned linear-algebra libraries.
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Longer-term goals include to explore new ideas: e.g. virtual objects
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and component-based programming, and expanding the scope of existing
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ones like formula-based interfaces. Further, we wish to get a handle
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on a general approach to graphical user interfaces (preferably with
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cross-platform portability), and to develop better 3-D and dynamic
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graphics.
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Sincerely,
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The R Core Team.
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