R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It is a GNU project which is similar to the S language and environment which was developed at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T, now Lucent Technologies) by John Chambers and colleagues. R can be considered as a different implementation of S. There are some important differences, but much code written for S runs unaltered under R.

Why are statistical programming languages important to data scientists? What are some advantages and disadvantages the R programming language has over the other main statistical programming languages (i.e. Python, SAS, SQL)?

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When replying to a classmate, offer your opinion on what they posted comparing the R programming language to the other statistical programming languages. Using at least 3 – 5 sentences, explain why you agreed or disagreed with their evaluation of the different statistical programming languages.

Discussion Length (word count): At least 250 words (not including direct quotes).

References: At least two peer-reviewed, scholarly journal references.