Question 1

What is R?

Accepted Answer

R is a language and environment for a wide variety of statistical computing such as (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, …) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible. R is a free software under the terms of the Free Software Foundation’s GNU General Public License in source code form. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms and similar systems (including FreeBSD and Linux), Windows and MacOS.It can be considered as a different implementation of S with some important differences, but much code written for S runs unaltered under R. The S language is often the vehicle of choice for research in statistical methodology, and R provides an Open Source route to participation in that activity. for more information check the R project homepage: https://www.r-project.org/

Question 2

What is the difference between Unix, GUN, and Linux?"

Accepted Answer

Unix came first as a first portable OS then where the GNU isn't actually an OS, but It's a set of rules that govern free software then later invented Linux as an alternative to the paid for operating systems. To have a better understanding of the Unix timeline check this chart
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Unix_timeline.en.svg).
 
- Unix is a  multi‐user computer OS created originally in 1969 by researchers of AT&T at Bell Labs, and the company charged for Unix while Universities got Unix for free.
 
- GNU was developed by the GNU project in 1983 and was the original focus of the Free Software Foundation.
 
- Linux refers to the family of Unix‐like computer operating systems, and originally was written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds.

Question 3

What is CRAN?

Accepted Answer

It is a stand for Comprehensive R Archive Network. CRAN is a network of ftp and web servers around the world where you can find the R source code, R manuals and documentation, and contributed packages. In other words, CRAN isn’t a single website, but it’s a collection of web servers that store identical, up-to-date, versions of code and documentation for R. Thus, each web server is called a mirror. The idea is that you choose the mirror that is located nearest to where you are, which reduces international or long-distance Internet traffic. You can find a list of CRAN mirrors at CRAN mirrors.

Question 4

What machines does R run on?

Accepted Answer

R runs fine on Windows, Linux, and MAC, and it is difficult to give a definitive answer which one of these three OS's is better.

Question 5

Who can submit a package to CRAN and how?

Accepted Answer

Anyone can contribute to the development of the programming language and make a package. These contributions are publicly available to be accessed by anyone, and any package that submitted to CRAN will have significant traction in the R community. The main advantage of getting a package on CRAN is that it will be easier for users to install.
 
To “submit” a package to CRAN, you have to check the CRAN Repository Policy to make sure that your submission meets these policies. For more information, you can contact the CRAN-submissions@R-project.org.

Question 6

What are the most known books on R?

Accepted Answer

These are some books by the R Core Team members:
 
John M. Chambers (2008), “Software for Data Analysis: Programming with R”. Springer, New York, ISBN 978-0-387-75935-7, http://statweb.stanford.edu/~jmc4/Rbook/.
 
Peter Dalgaard (2008), “Introductory Statistics with R”, 2nd edition. Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-79053-4, http://publicifsv.sund.ku.dk/~pd/ISwR.html.
 
Robert Gentleman (2008), “R Programming for Bioinformatics”. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, ISBN 978-1-420-06367-7, https://www.bioconductor.org/pub/RBioinf/.
 
Stefano M. Iacus (2008), “Simulation and Inference for Stochastic Differential Equations: With R Examples”. Springer, New York, ISBN 978-0-387-75838-1.
 
Deepayan Sarkar (2007), “Lattice: Multivariate Data Visualization with R”. Springer, New York, ISBN 978-0-387-75968-5.
 
W. John Braun and Duncan J. Murdoch (2007), “A First Course in Statistical Programming with R”. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 978-0521872652.
 
P. Murrell (2005), “R Graphics”, Chapman & Hall/CRC, ISBN: 1-584-88486-X, https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~paul/RGraphics/rgraphics.html.
 
William N. Venables and Brian D. Ripley (2002), “Modern Applied Statistics with S” (4th edition). Springer, ISBN 0-387-95457-0, https://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/pub/MASS4/.
 
Jose C. Pinheiro and Douglas M. Bates (2000), “Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-Plus”. Springer, ISBN 0-387-98957-0.
 
Last, but not least, Ross’ and Robert’s experience in designing and implementing R is described in Ihaka & Gentleman (1996), “R: A Language for Data Analysis and Graphics”, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 5, 299–314.

Question 7

Is there any documentation that explains the functions of packages?

Accepted Answer

Yes, there is online documentation for most the packages which explains the functions and variables.
 
It is also existing in R, and it can be printed on-screen by typing help(name) (or ?name) at the R prompt, where name is the name of the topic help is sought for. This documentation can also be made available as one reference manual for on-line reading in HTML and PDF formats, and as hardcopy via LaTeX.