"Marsland, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Clearly, I disagree in some areas. But you raise an interesting, but perhaps > unintended, question: > > Do we think that R is a programming language in its own right where we seek > to develop code and then build on that code for example in a object oriented > way?
My answer is: "we think that R is a programming language in its own right where we seek to develop code and then build on that code". Whether object orientation is a good approach is a completely different issue. (note: I've spent significant amounts of time with S4 classes on 2 projects, this may color my attitudes in non-obvious ways). > Or, is R a mechanism for combining lots of C/C++/Fortran libraries (written > by suitably qualified experts) at the command line in an easy to use > interpreted fashion in order to crunch the numbers and display them nicely? For the general setting, think Python and SWIG. Why not both? > Surely, if it's a speed issue we should try to help to make R faster for > these sorts of problems rather than just bailing out into C at the first > opportunity? Are you volunteering? I'll never find the time in the near future. Generalized optimization is very hard (or: high risk for possibly little gain). Specific examples/contexts are easy, of course, with the ease narrowing as the scope of speedup narrows. R has improved beyond where I thought it would go back when I first started using it (8 or 9 years? its been a while), but across-the-board improvements in performance have always taken time. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.analytics.washington.edu/ Biomedical and Health Informatics University of Washington Biostatistics, SCHARP/HVTN Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center UW (Tu/Th/F): 206-616-7630 FAX=206-543-3461 | Voicemail is unreliable FHCRC (M/W): 206-667-7025 FAX=206-667-4812 | use Email CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message and any attachme...{{dropped}} ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
