I appeal to those entrusted with the keeping of the R flame, the S flame, and
the S-Plus flame to relate a bit of history. How did S, S-Plus, and R get their
names? Going from S to S-Plus appears clear, a commercial company purchased
rights to S, developed a product that they wanted to indicate was related to S,
but was more fully developed. This leaves me with only a rumor how S got its
original name and how R got its name. Some sources suggest that R is named after
Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka the titans who gave birth to R. The origin of
the name S is less clear. Citations would be appreciated, so to would statements
from the titans from the days of yore.
Thank you,
John
John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology
Baltimore VA Medical Center
10 North Greene Street
GRECC (BT/18/GR)
Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
(Phone) 410-605-7119
(Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
Confidentiality Statement:
This email message, including any attachments, is for th...{{dropped:6}}
Google "history of S" to find this document <http://www2.research.att.com/areas/stat/doc/94.11.ps> www2.research.att.com/areas/stat/doc/94.11.ps with the following quote: By July, 1976, we decided to name the system. Acronyms were in abundance at Bell Laboratories, so it seemed sure that we would come up with one for our system, but no one seemed to be able to agree with any one else’s suggestion: Interactive SCS (ISCS), Statistical Computing System (too confusing), Statistical Analysis System (already taken), etc. In the end, we decided that all of these names contained an ‘S’ and, with the C programming language as a precedent, decided to name the system ‘S’. (We dropped the quotes by 1979). Kevin Wright On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 7:30 AM, John Sorkin <jsorkin@grecc.umaryland.edu>wrote:> I appeal to those entrusted with the keeping of the R flame, the S flame, > and the S-Plus flame to relate a bit of history. How did S, S-Plus, and R > get their names? Going from S to S-Plus appears clear, a commercial company > purchased rights to S, developed a product that they wanted to indicate was > related to S, but was more fully developed. This leaves me with only a rumor > how S got its original name and how R got its name. Some sources suggest > that R is named after Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka the titans who gave > birth to R. The origin of the name S is less clear. Citations would be > appreciated, so to would statements from the titans from the days of yore. > Thank you, > John > > > John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D. > Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics > University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology > Baltimore VA Medical Center > 10 North Greene Street > GRECC (BT/18/GR) > Baltimore, MD 21201-1524 > (Phone) 410-605-7119 > (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing) > > Confidentiality Statement: > This email message, including any attachments, is for ...{{dropped:18}}
On 26-Mar-10 12:30:37, John Sorkin wrote:> I appeal to those entrusted with the keeping of the R flame, > the S flame, and the S-Plus flame to relate a bit of history. > How did S, S-Plus, and R get their names? Going from S to S-Plus > appears clear, a commercial company purchased rights to S, > developed a product that they wanted to indicate was related to S, > but was more fully developed. This leaves me with only a rumor > how S got its original name and how R got its name. Some sources > suggest that R is named after Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka the > titans who gave birth to R. The origin of the name S is less clear. > Citations would be appreciated, so to would statements from the > titans from the days of yore. > Thank you, > JohnFor S, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_(programming_language) I have the 1984 book "S: An Interactive Environment for Data Analysis and Graphics" by Ricjard A. Becker and John M. Chambers, and have looked through its Preface, Contents and Index without finding anything that points to how the name "S" was chosen. However, it has always been my memory that "S" was chosen because it stood for "Statistics". The additional reference in the Wikipedia article to the "C" language reflects a typical pun-ridden Bell Labs environment. In the beginning was BCPL, developed at Cambridge (UK) in the 1960s. When Unix started to be developed at Bell Labs in the late 1960s, Ken Thompson developed the "B" (being a stripped-down version of "BCPL") language; though I'm sure he was aware that "B" also stood for "Bell". Then Thompson and Ritchie, needing a better language for Unix in the early 1970s, developed "B" into "New B" (?"newbie"?), and then into C. So "C" could be seen also as the natural (alphabetical) successor to "B". As to R and S, we have a FAQ about it: http://cran.r-project.org/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html#Why-is-R-named-R_003f "2.12 Why is R named R? The name is partly based on the (first) names of the first two R authors (Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka), and partly a play on the name of the Bell Labs language `S' (see What is S?)." This leads you on to the FAQ: http://cran.r-project.org/doc/FAQ/R-FAQ.html#What-is-S_003f "What is S?" which doea not, however, say anything about why S is called "S". But it finally leads you to: http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/departments/sia/S/history.html where you can find (on what must be the most authoritative basis): "Did you notice a certain uncertainty about what to call the thing? We started out with System, then added Language, then switched to Environment; with the next version, we would switch back to Language and drop System. We were sure, however, that we wanted to avoid the P word: S was not to be considered a statistical package in the usual sense of the term." But it gives no reason for the choice of "S". So, authoritatively, we are left with an enigma. Which is probably what they intended. Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 26-Mar-10 Time: 14:03:19 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
John Sorkin <jsorkin <at> grecc.umaryland.edu> writes:> How did S, S-Plus, and R get their names?From http://stat.bell-labs.com/S/ http://cm.bell-labs.com/stat/doc/94.11.ps by Rick Becker By July, 1976, we decided to name the system. Acronyms were in abundance at Bell Laboratories, so it seemed sure that we would come up with one for our system, but no one seemed to be able to agree with any one else's suggestion: Interactive SCS (ISCS), Statistical Computing System (too confusing), Statistical Analysis System (already taken), etc. In the end, we decided that all of these names contained an `S' and, with the C programming language as a precedent, decided to name the system `S'. (We dropped the quotes by 1979).