1 00:00:07,299 --> 00:00:12,450 In this video, we will give a brief overview of the R programming language. 2 00:00:12,450 --> 00:00:18,060 After our last video on Python, where we discussed its wide adoption, you might be wondering 3 00:00:18,060 --> 00:00:22,019 why on earth you should consider learning any other language. 4 00:00:22,019 --> 00:00:28,239 Well, according to the results of the 2019 Kaggle Data Science survey, which had over 5 00:00:28,239 --> 00:00:34,860 10k respondents from around the world, learning up to three languages can increase your salary! 6 00:00:34,860 --> 00:00:36,990 And R has a lot to offer you. 7 00:00:36,990 --> 00:00:43,600 Like Python, R is free to use, but it's a GNU project -- instead of being open source, 8 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,940 it's actually free software. 9 00:00:45,940 --> 00:00:51,630 So if Python is open source and R is free software, what’s the difference? 10 00:00:51,630 --> 00:00:58,570 Well, Both open source and free software commonly refer to the same set of licenses. 11 00:00:58,570 --> 00:01:04,230 Many open source projects use the GNU General Public License, for example. 12 00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:08,710 Both open source and free software support collaboration. 13 00:01:08,710 --> 00:01:14,430 In many cases (but not all), these terms can be used interchangeably. 14 00:01:14,430 --> 00:01:20,920 The Open Source Initiative (OSI) champions open source while the Free Software Foundation 15 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,760 (FSF) defines free software. 16 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,530 Open source is more business focused, while free software is more focused on a set of 17 00:01:29,530 --> 00:01:31,630 values. 18 00:01:31,630 --> 00:01:37,190 Back to why you should learn R. Because this is a free software project, you can use the 19 00:01:37,190 --> 00:01:43,490 language in the same way that you contribute to open source, and it allows for public collaboration 20 00:01:43,490 --> 00:01:46,310 and private and commercial use. 21 00:01:46,310 --> 00:01:51,570 Plus, R is another language supported by a wide global community of people passionate 22 00:01:51,570 --> 00:01:56,890 about making it possible to use the language to solve big problems. 23 00:01:56,890 --> 00:01:58,740 Who is R for? 24 00:01:58,740 --> 00:02:05,610 It's most often used by statisticians, mathematicians, and data miners for developing statistical 25 00:02:05,610 --> 00:02:08,530 software, graphing, and data analysis. 26 00:02:08,530 --> 00:02:14,310 The language’s array-oriented syntax makes it easier to translate from math to code, 27 00:02:14,310 --> 00:02:19,280 especially for someone with no or minimal programming background. 28 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:24,480 According to Kaggle’s Data Science and Machine Learning Survey, most folks learn R when they're 29 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:29,560 a few years into their data science career, but it remains a welcoming language to those 30 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,310 who don’t have a software programming background. 31 00:02:33,310 --> 00:02:41,000 R is popular in academia but companies that use R include IBM, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, 32 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:47,250 Bank of America, Ford, TechCrunch, Uber, and Trulia. 33 00:02:47,250 --> 00:02:51,940 ● R has become the world’s largest repository of statistical knowledge. 34 00:02:51,940 --> 00:02:59,240 ● As of 2018, R has more than 15,000 publicly released packages, making it possible to conduct 35 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,900 complex exploratory data analysis. 36 00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:10,500 ● R integrates well with other computer languages, such as C++, Java, C, .Net, and 37 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:11,500 Python. 38 00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:16,070 ● Common mathematical operations such as matrix multiplication work straight out of 39 00:03:16,070 --> 00:03:17,970 the box. 40 00:03:17,970 --> 00:03:23,750 ● R has stronger object-oriented programming facilities than most statistical computing 41 00:03:23,750 --> 00:03:25,120 languages. 42 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,410 There are many ways to connect with other R users around the globe. 43 00:03:29,410 --> 00:03:36,430 Communities such as user!, WhyR?, SatRdays, and R-Ladies are all great to connect with. 44 00:03:36,430 --> 00:03:41,830 And you can also check out the R project website for R conferences and events.