Open Source Scripting Platform for Data-Analysis, Statistics and Modeling
R is a scripting platform for statistical computation and graphics. It consists of the R-scripting language and a run-time environment for graphics, debugging, access to system and network functions, and running script files. The Inference R Plug-In enables the R scripting language to be executed from within Inference Word by hosting the R-language runtime and collecting the output and graphics for sending to multiple destinations including Microsoft Word documents.
The R scripting platform is widely used for statistical method development and data analysis. The R scripting platform is and open source project and is freely available under the GNU General Public License from the R-project. The syntax closely parallels the commercial S programming language developed by ATT labs, with semantics derived from the Scheme scripting platform. The standard R distribution contains a broad range of functionality for a large number of statistical procedures. Among these are: linear and generalized linear models, nonlinear regression models, time series analysis, classical parametric and nonparametric tests, clustering and smoothing. There is also a large set of functions which provide a flexible graphical environment for creating various kinds of data presentations. Although R is mostly used for statistical computation and statistical method development, it can also be used as a general matrix calculation toolbox with comparable benchmark results to GNU Octave and its proprietary counterpart, MATLAB.
The R scripting platform is also highly extensible through the use of packages, which are user-submitted libraries and illustrative examples for specialized methods, specific areas of study, or novel graphical techniques. There are over 1,000 free packages available by download from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). Collections of packages in defined areas of application are available on the official R Task View pages. Such collections include: