History of R
Steve Simon
2014-05-30
R sprouted from S
Figure 1. Book cover
I’m helping to put together three separate classes, Basic data management and analysis with R, SAS, SPSS. As part of these classes, I need to discuss the history of these programs, because understanding that history will help you better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each statistical package. Here’s a brief history of R.
R has its roots in a program called S. S was developed in a time when single letters were in vogue (as in the C programming language).
Image source: Amazon
John Chambers
Figure 2. Photo of John Chambers
The primary author of the S language was John Chambers. Often he gets sole credit, there were two other major contributors.
Image source: AT&T
Richard Becker
Figure 3. Photo of Richard Becker
Also involved with S, is another statistician, Richard Becker.
Image source: AT&T
