R is a language and environment for statistical computing and
graphics. It is similar to S, which was developed at Bell
Laboratories by John Chambers et al. It provides a wide variety
of statistical and graphical techniques (linear and nonlinear
modelling, statistical tests, time series analysis,
classification, clustering, etc.). R is designed as a true
computer language with control-flow constructions for iteration
and alternation, and it allows users to add additional
functionality by defining new functions. For computationally
intensive tasks, Fortran and C code can be linked and called at
run time. Changes: Many things have changed since 1.0. The R
language has acquired namespaces, exception handling constructs,
formal methods and classes, much improved garbage collection,
generalized I/O via connection objects, and considerable
improvements in the graphics area. The user workspace has been
reorganized, and so has the set of packages that ship with R.
Several "recommended packages" deemed indispensable i