I am trying to get a measure of how R compares in usage as a statistical platform compared to other software. I would guess it is the most widely used among statisticians at least by virtue of it being open source. But is there any study to which I can refer? By asking this list I am not exactly adopting a rigorous approach! Best wishes John John Logsdon "Try to make things as simple Quantex Research Ltd, Manchester UK as possible but not simpler" j.logsdon at quantex-research.com a.einstein at relativity.org +44(0)161 445 4951/G:+44(0)7717758675 www.quantex-research.com
On 30-Jul-07 08:28:15, John Logsdon wrote:> I am trying to get a measure of how R compares in usage as a > statistical platform compared to other software. I would guess > it is the most widely used among statisticians at least by > virtue of it being open source. > > But is there any study to which I can refer? By asking this > list I am not exactly adopting a rigorous approach!I don't know about that -- my own expectation would be that serious users of R are likely to be subscribers to the list. So maybe a good answer to your question would be the number of subscribers (which I'm sure Martin Maechler can find out). Of course, some people will have subscribed under more than one email address, so that would somewhat over-estimate the number of people who subscribe. But it can be traded off (to a somewhat unknown extent) against R users who do not subscribe. More to the point, though, is what you mean by "usage". If you simply mean "people who use", that's a matter of counting (one way or another). But there's "use" and "use". There's a lot of what I call "SatNav Statistics" being done, and I would guess that "SatNav statisticians" tend to go for the commercial products, since these have bigger and brighter displays, and the more mellifluous and reassuring voice-overs. (And never mind that the voice instructs you to turn left, at the level-crossing, onto the railway line). Most serious R users, I tend to think, are more likely to pull into a layby and unfold large-scale maps. And, when the need arises, they will get out and push. So, in "widely used among statisticians", it depends on what you mean by "statisticians". Where you will will probably get extra value from the R list is that many of our people will have extensive and very professional experience, not only with R, but with many of the other available packages, and be best placed to provide serious and thoughtful comparisons. Best wishes, Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 30-Jul-07 Time: 10:18:21 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
John Logsdon <j.logsdon <at> quantex-research.com> writes:> > I am trying to get a measure of how R compares in usage as a statistical > platform compared to other software. I would guess it is the most widely > used among statisticians at least by virtue of it being open source. > > But is there any study to which I can refer? By asking this list I am not > exactly adopting a rigorous approach! >Not sure what your definition of usage is in this instance (user-base v's usability v's reliability/accuracy) but the following may be of interest... Kellie B. Keeling and Robert J. Pavur, A comparative study of the reliability of nine statistical software packages, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Volume 51, Issue 8, 1 May 2007, Pages 3811-3831. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V8V-4JHMGWJ-1/2/77a29a95c2071997f13fcca7267711d1) There is also some discussion in the R-help archive, and a small amount scattered around in the statalist archives (the two statistical software mailing lists to which I subscribe). Search the R-help list at http://search.r-project.org/nmz.html and statalist archives at http://www.stata.com/statalist/archvies/ HTH's Neil "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." - Johann von Neumann Email - nshephard at gmail.com / n.shephard at sheffield.ac.uk Website - http://slack.ser.man.ac.uk/ Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/slackline/
Why? You might receive more useful replies from a relevant subset of users if you specify the purpose you have in mind. Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Statistics -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of John Logsdon Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 1:28 AM To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R] Slightly OT - use of R I am trying to get a measure of how R compares in usage as a statistical platform compared to other software. I would guess it is the most widely used among statisticians at least by virtue of it being open source. But is there any study to which I can refer? By asking this list I am not exactly adopting a rigorous approach! Best wishes John John Logsdon "Try to make things as simple Quantex Research Ltd, Manchester UK as possible but not simpler" j.logsdon at quantex-research.com a.einstein at relativity.org +44(0)161 445 4951/G:+44(0)7717758675 www.quantex-research.com ______________________________________________ R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.