[R] Learning advanced R

[Rich Shepard]

On Wed, 14 Mar 2018, Barry Rowlingson wrote:

> Depending on your application, I'm not sure there's much point in being an
> "advanced R programmer" these days. Become an adequate R programmer, and
> learn C++ and Rcpp. Do basic data mashing in R, then do all your intensive
> stuff in C++ with Rcpp. Eventually you'll probably get to the point where
> you can express yourself in C++ as fast as you can in interpreted R, with
> the bonus of C++ speed, type-safety etc.

Barry,

   Allow me to offer an alternative to C++: Python. Compiled languages are
faster than interpreted ones, but unless you're doing time-critical
computations it really does not matter. R and Python provide proven
abilities in a broad range of applications and with today's hardware the
analytical/modeling code is not likely to be the limiting factor.

Regards,

Rich