I have had an email conversation with the author of the technical report from which the quote was taken. I am formulating a comment to the report that will be posted with the technical report.
I would be pleased if this thread continued, so I will know better what I want to say. Plus I should be able to reference this thread in the comment. Regards, Patrick Burns [EMAIL PROTECTED] +44 (0)20 8525 0696 http://www.burns-stat.com (home of S Poetry and "A Guide for the Unwilling S User") Rau, Roland wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > >>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gabor >>Grothendieck >>Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 4:59 PM >>To: Philippe Grosjean >>Cc: Kort, Eric; Kjetil Halvorsen; R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch >>Subject: Re: [R] A comment about R: >> >> >>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. >> >> >> >> >IMO this is a very good proposal but I think that the main problem is >not the "translation" of one function in SPSS/Stata/SAS to the >equivalent in R. >Remembering my first contact with R after using SPSS for some years (and >having some experience with Stata and SAS) was that your mental >framework is different. You think in "SPSS-terms" (i.e. you expect that >data are automatically a rectangular matrix, functions operate on >columns of this matrix, you have always only one dataset available, >...). This is why "jumping" from SPSS to Stata is relatively easy. But >to jump from any of the three to R is much more difficult. >This mental barrier is also the main obstacle for me now when I try to >encourage the use of R to other people who have a similar background as >I had. >What can be done about it? I guess the only answer is investing time >from the user which implies that R will probably never become the >language of choice for "casual users". But popularity is probably not >the main goal of the R-Project (it would be rather a nice side-effect). > >Just a few thoughts ... > >Best, >Roland > >+++++ >This mail has been sent through the MPI for Demographic Rese...{{dropped}} > >______________________________________________ >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 > > > > > ______________________________________________ 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