What R is and what it isn't

When it comes to choosing software for statistical computing, it's tough to argue against R. Who could dislike a high quality, cross-platform, open source, statistical software product? It has an interactive console for exploratory work. It can run as a scripting language to replicate processes. It has a lot of statistical models built in, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel, but when the base toolset is not enough, you have access to a rich ecosystem of external packages. And, it's free! No wonder R has become a favorite in the age of data.