Why do we use R rather than Excel?
If you need to do something once, use a GUI (Excel).<p>If you need to do something ten times, use hotkeys and shortcuts.<p>If you need to do something a hundred times, write a script (R).<p>I usually use the command line as the example for why writing code and scripts are better than the more intuitive and lower-learning-curve GUIs.<p>If I want to move a file from one folder to another then I just drag it across. Easy.<p>If I want to move a thousand files from one folder to another, I will benefit from learning `CTRL-A` or shift-clicking (slightly more obscure than the 'intuitive' drag each file across individually or drag a large box around them all to select them).<p>If I want to move a thousand files beginning with 'UTR-77' and ending with '.csv' then I would benefit from learning `mv UTR-77*.csv $folder`, but I could still do it manually if I didn't know that was an option.<p>If I want to move a thousand files beginning with 'URT-77' to another folder at a moment's notice or at Thursday 1am, then the only options I really have are scripting.<p>I almost feel like before people learn the 'basic' stuff as outlined at the beginning of the article, they should be shown some 'magic' that is only really possible with scripting so that it's clear from the outset why you wouldn't 'just use excel'.