An Introduction to R

R is an integrated suite of software facilities for data manipulation, calculation and graphical display. Among other things it has
an effective data handling and storage facility,
a suite of operators for calculations on arrays, in particular matrices,
a large, coherent, integrated collection of intermediate tools for data analysis,
graphical facilities for data analysis and display either directly at the computer or on hardcopy, and a well developed, simple and effective programming language (called ‘S’) which includes conditionals, loops, user defined recursive functions and input and output facilities. (Indeed most of the system supplied functions are themselves written in the S language.)