&gt; R is really more a functional language which most people don&#x27;t recognize and when they learn the standard core of R with Lisp inspired ideas it really throws them for a loop.<p>Just to clarify, R was initially a dialect of Scheme. On the other hand, with its frustrating silent type changes, you can see its S roots in the same place that gave us C and C++. That&#x27;s quite a combination in terms of learning curve.