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0 pointsisoprophlex2y ago0 comments

The type system is so abhorrent, it makes me wonder if it's actually proper to call R a real programming language

0 comments

kgwgk2y ago

"There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses."

dunefox2y ago

This crappy quote is always used to justify bad design.

isoprophlexOP2y ago

I'm sorry, did you mean

    [1] "There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses."

:^)

goatlover2y ago

And from a different point of view, real programming languages have built-in vectorization and 1-based arrays ;)

mike_ivanov2y ago

what specifically is abhorrent about it?

isoprophlexOP2y ago

The coercion always gets on my nerves, JavaScript gets a bad rep but R is pretty damn warty too; weird ass data types ('ordered factor', anyone) that just seem so very far away from design choices in other languages without being particularly ergonomic or aesthetically appealing

kyllo2y ago

The data types make sense to statisticians. Ordered factors are great when you need to fit, say, an ordered logit regression model.

mike_ivanov2y ago

Which coercion specifically are you talking about? Could you give an example?

Weird data types: R had been designed for and by statisticians with their specific needs in mind, which indeed could look weird to regular people.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

kgwgk2y ago

"There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses."

dunefox2y ago

This crappy quote is always used to justify bad design.

isoprophlexOP2y ago

I'm sorry, did you mean

    [1] "There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses."

:^)

goatlover2y ago

And from a different point of view, real programming languages have built-in vectorization and 1-based arrays ;)

mike_ivanov2y ago

what specifically is abhorrent about it?

isoprophlexOP2y ago

kyllo2y ago

The data types make sense to statisticians. Ordered factors are great when you need to fit, say, an ordered logit regression model.

mike_ivanov2y ago

Which coercion specifically are you talking about? Could you give an example?

Weird data types: R had been designed for and by statisticians with their specific needs in mind, which indeed could look weird to regular people.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse