The R language has surged in popularity in recent years, especially as massive advancements are made in the fields of data mining and data science. The R language is a relatively newer one, with its development starting in the early 90s. It was created to provide a powerful tool for analysis and data visualization while being open sourced. Let's explore a brief history behind the R programming language.

What is R?

R is a programming language primarily utilized for data science and statistical computing. The R language is commonly used among data scientists, miners, and statisticians. is preferred by programmers for a number of reasons. It not only lets researchers interact with and explore their data, but visualize it as well. It's also entirely open source, so both the language and software are constantly evolving. While some brands like Microsoft have their own software for using R to interact with data, the R Project oversees the legalities regarding the language and also has its own open source software that is free to use.

Who Created R?

The R programming language was created in 1992 by developers Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka at the University of Auckland. In 1995, R was released as an open source software for the first time, a move that would define the software's reception and community behind it. After the software's early success, a group known as the R Core was established in 1997 to oversee the software's continued growth and development.

Who is Over the R Language?

The R language bears a number of similarities to the S language, and creators Gentleman and Ihaka have said themselves that R was modeled after S. It makes sense then that a number of those involved with the founding or development of S have gone on to oversee the development of R. There are a number of groups that preside over the R language. The R Core consists of 20 developers who oversee R's advancement. This group is not to be confused with the R Foundation, which is a non-profit which aims to provide structure and community regarding the language and its increasing number of applications. Finally, the R Open Source Project is a crowdsourcing and collaborative effort to improve, debug, and maintain R.

The Newcomer is Here to Stay

One great thing about R is that it's constantly growing, changing, and evolving to meet the needs of its users. The massive community behind this language is one of its greatest assets. New applications for this technology are found every day, contributing to its relevance and continued growth. As data mining takes the center stage of global commerce, the need for R is more urgent than ever. Clear, powerful, and comprehensive analysis is just one reason why so many developers opt to use R for their own software and projects.