Comparison – R vs. Python: head to head data analysis
This is interesting, but not really an R vs. Python comparison. It's an R vs. Pandas/Numpy comparison. For basic (or even advanced) stats, R wins hands down. And it's really hard to beat ggplot. And CRAN is much better for finding other statistical or data analysis packages.<p>But when you start having to massage the data in the language (database lookups, integrating datasets, more complicated logic), Python is the better "general-purpose" language. It is a pretty steep learning curve to grok the R internal data representations and how things work.<p>The better part of this comparison, in my opinion, is how to perform similar tasks in each language. It would be more beneficial to have a comparison of here is where Python/Pandas is good, here is where R is better, and how to switch between them. Another way of saying this is figuring out when something is too hard in R and it's time to flip to Python for a while...