Overcoming R angst. The tools that help statisticians learn and use R effectively

Abstract

This paper makes a review of the most popular graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in order to help new and unexperienced users learn and use R. Although R is free and benefits from state-of-the-art implementations of statistical algorithms and methods, it is not the first choice among statistical software users. This can be attributable to a lack of user-friendly interfaces similar to the ones available for other statistical packages. However, there are several GUIs that enable R users to use it quickly and effectively without having to use interactive programming and learn R code. For standard statistical analysis, RCommander proves to be the best solution that not only offers standard functionalities that are similar to commercial statistical software, but allows users to visualize, use, and customize the codes that perform standard data and statistical procedures, thus helping them to effectively learn R. For more advanced users, there are two main specialized GUIs RStudio, which facilitates the use of R through the use of scripts and generation of interactive applications and reports, and Rattle, specialized for data mining procedures and algorithms.

Keywords

• software
• open source
• R
• GUI