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 in a statistical
system are bundled. In addition, there has been a large number of more
specific new functions, tweaks, and bugfixes.