That's a good idea. I will try to give a lexicon on Stata vs R. ======= 2006-01-02 23:59:10 您在来信中写道:=======
>On 1/2/06, Philippe Grosjean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Kort, Eric wrote: >> > >> >>Kjetil Halvorsen wrote... >> >> >> >>Readers of this list might be interested in the following commenta about R. >> >> >> >> >> >>In a recent report, by Michael N. Mitchell >> >>http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/technicalreports/ >> >>says about R: >> >>"Perhaps the most notable exception to this discussion is R, a language for >> >>statistical computing and graphics. >> >> >> > >> > -------8<----------------------------------------- >> > >> > After reading this commentary a couple of times, I can't quite figure >> > out if he is damning with faint praise, or praising with faint damnation. >> > >> > (For example, after observing how many researchers around me approach >> > statistical analysis, I'd say discouraging "casual" use is a _feature_.) >> >> There are numerous reasons why people tend to consider R as too >> complicate for them (or even worse, say peremptively to others that R is >> too complicate for them!). But one must decrypt the real reasons behind >> what they say. Mostly, it is because R imposes to think about the >> analysis we are doing. As Eric says, it is a _feature_ (well, not >> discouraging "casual" use, but forcing to think about what we do, which >> in turn forces to learn R a little deeper to get results... which in >> turn may discourage casual users, as an unwanted side-effect). According >> to my own experience with teaching to students and to advanced >> scientists in different environments (academic, industry, etc.), the >> main basic reason why people are reluctant to use R is lazyness. People >> are lazy by nature. They like course where they just sit and snooze. >> Unfortunatelly, this is not the right way to learn R: you have to dwell >> on the abondant litterature about R and experiment by yourself to become >> a good R user. This is the kind of thing people do not like at all! >> Someone named Dr Brian Ripley wrote once something like: >> "`They' did write documentation that told you [...], but `they' >> can't read it for you." >> >> It is already many years that I write and use tools supposed to help >> beginners to master R: menu/dialog boxes approach, electronic reference >> cards, graphical object explorer, code tips, completion lists, etc... >> Everytime I got the same result: either these tools are badly designed >> because they hide the 'horrible code' those casual users don't want to >> see, and they make them *happy bad R users*, or they still force them to >> write code and think at what they exactly do (but just help them a bit), >> and they make them *good R users, but unhappy, poor, tortured >> beginners*! So, I tend to agree now: there is probably no way to instil >> R into lazy and reluctant minds. >> >> That said, I think one should interpret Mitchell's paper in a different >> way. Obviously, he is an unconditional and happy Stata user (he even >> wrote a book about graphs programming in Stata). His claim in favor of >> Stata (versus SAS and SPSS, and also, indirectly, versus R) is to be >> interpreted the same way as unconditional lovers of Macintoshes or PCs >> would argue against the other clan. Both architectures are good and have >> strengths and weaknesses. Real arguments are more sentimental, and could >> resume in: "The more I use it, the more I like it,... and the aliens are >> bad, ugly and stupid!" Would this apply to Stata versus R? I don't know >> Stata at all, but I imagine it could be the case from what I read in >> Mitchell's paper... > >Probably what is needed is for someone familiar with both Stata and R >to create a lexicon in the vein of the Octave to R lexicon > > http://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/R-and-octave-2.txt > >to make it easier for Stata users to understand R. Ditto for SAS and SPSS. > >______________________________________________ >R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 2006-01-03 ------ Deparment of Sociology Fudan University My new mail addres is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog:http://sociology.yculblog.com
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