doBy

R is the easiest language to speak badly

I am amazed by the number of comments I received on my recent blog entry about “by”, “apply” and friends. I had started my post by pointing out that R is a language. Well indeed, I have come to the conclusion, that it is a language with lots of irregular expressions and dialects. It feels a bit like German or French where you have to learn and memorise the different articles.

Say it in R with "by", "apply" and friends

R is a language, as Luis Apiolaza pointed out in his recent post. This is absolutely true, and learning a programming language is not much different from learning a foreign language. It takes time and a lot of practice to be proficient in it. I started using R when I moved to the UK and I wonder, if I have a better understanding of English or R by now.