R is Open Source. You're welcome to write tools, and submit your package to CRAN. I think some part of this has been done, based on questions to the list asking about those parts.
Personally, I've been using S-Plus and then R for 18 years, and never required data from any of them. Which doesn't make it not important, but suggests that public databases aren't the be-all and end-all for R use. Sarah On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Benjamin Weber <m...@bwe.im> wrote: > Dear R Users - > > R is a wonderful software package. CRAN provides a variety of tools to > work on your data. But R is not apt to utilize all the public > databases in an efficient manner. > I observed the most tedious part with R is searching and downloading > the data from public databases and putting it into the right format. I > could not find a package on CRAN which offers exactly this fundamental > capability. > Imagine R is the unified interface to access (and analyze) all public > data in the easiest way possible. That would create a real impact, > would put R a big leap forward and would enable us to see the world > with different eyes. > > There is a lack of a direct connection to the API of these databases, > to name a few: > > - Eurostat > - OECD > - IMF > - Worldbank > - UN > - FAO > - data.gov > - ... > > The ease of access to the data is the key of information processing with R. > > How can we handle the flow of information noise? R has to give an > answer to that with an extensive API to public databases. > > I would love your comments and ideas as a contribution in a vital discussion. > > Benjamin > -- Sarah Goslee http://www.functionaldiversity.org ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.