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  5. F# vs R

F# vs R

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

R Language
R Language
Stacks3.9K
Followers1.9K
Votes418
F#
F#
Stacks779
Followers556
Votes399
GitHub Stars2.2K
Forks316

F# vs R: What are the differences?

Introduction

F# and R are both programming languages used for statistical computing and data analysis. While they share some similarities, there are several key differences between these two languages. Below, we highlight the six main differences between F# and R.

  1. Syntax: F# follows a functional programming paradigm and has a syntax similar to OCaml. It emphasizes immutability and encourages the use of pure functions. On the other hand, R has a syntax inspired by the S programming language and is primarily used for statistical analysis. It provides a wide range of built-in statistical functions and supports vectorized operations.

  2. Type System: F# is a statically typed language, meaning that variables must have a specific type assigned at compile time. This allows for catching type errors early in the development process. In contrast, R is a dynamically typed language, where variables can change their type at runtime. This flexibility can be convenient but also increases the possibility of runtime errors.

  3. Data Manipulation: F# provides a powerful and flexible set of libraries for data manipulation, including the built-in List, Array, and Seq modules. It also supports querying data using LINQ (Language Integrated Query). R, on the other hand, has a rich ecosystem of packages, such as dplyr and tidyverse, that provide convenient functions for data manipulation, transformation, and exploration.

  4. Statistical Analysis: While both F# and R can perform statistical analysis, R has a larger number of specialized packages for this purpose. These packages, such as stats and ggplot2, provide comprehensive statistical functions and visualization capabilities tailored for data analysis. F# also has some statistical libraries, but they are not as extensive as those available in R.

  5. Interoperability: F# can seamlessly interoperate with other .NET languages, such as C# and VB.NET, allowing code reuse and integration with existing .NET ecosystems. On the other hand, R has limited interoperability with other programming languages. However, R provides interfaces and packages that allow integration with other languages like Python and C++.

  6. Community and Learning Resources: R has a larger and more established community compared to F#. The R community is vibrant and actively contributes to the development of new statistical techniques and packages. As a result, there is a wealth of learning resources, such as online tutorials, forums, and books, available for R. While F# has a smaller community, it still has valuable resources like documentation, forums, and online communities, but not as extensive as R.

In summary, F# and R differ in their syntax, type system, data manipulation capabilities, statistical analysis libraries, interoperability options, and the size of their respective communities. These differences make each language suitable for different use cases and development requirements.

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Advice on R Language, F#

Samuel
Samuel

Oct 11, 2021

Decided

MACHINE LEARNING

Python is the default go-to for machine learning. It has a wide variety of useful packages such as pandas and numpy to aid with ML, as well as deep-learning frameworks. Furthermore, it is more production-friendly compared to other ML languages such as R.

Pytorch is a deep-learning framework that is both flexible and fast compared to Tensorflow + Keras. It is also well documented and has a large community to answer lingering questions.

158k views158k
Comments
Markus
Markus

Feb 3, 2021

Needs adviceonKotlinKotlinJavaJavaF#F#

Hi there. I want to expand my coding toolset. So I want to learn a second backend language besides Kotlin. Kotlin is fantastic. I love it in every aspect, and I think I can never return to Java. And also why should I? It is 100% interoperable with java and can co-exist in every project.

So my question here is. Which language do you think will bring me more joy? I think F#; it is more like Kotlin. Then C# (it's more or like 100% java). But, let's say I learn F#. Is it 100% interoperable like Kotlin? can they live side by side? Can I, then, apply to .NET jr jobs after a while, for example, or is C# the holy cow? I would like to learn .Net.

If it is the worst and only C# is acceptable, then which language should I learn? Dart? Golang?

284k views284k
Comments
Mohiuddin
Mohiuddin

Mar 7, 2022

Needs advice

Extract the daily COVID-19 confirmed cases for City1, City2, and City3 from all the cities. Normalize the daily COVID-19 confirmed cases for the three cities using their respective populations. The 2019 mid-year estimated population figures for City1, City2, and City3 are 100,000, 200,000, and 300,000 respectively.

df <- read.csv ("coronavirus.csv", header = TRUE ) library(dplyr) df %>% group_by(City.name) %>% summarise(Sum = sum(Daily.cases))

Cant select multiple variables from dplyr::Groupby. Can anyone help me with the right code along with the second part of the question as I am not able to find solution as well.

3.15k views3.15k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

R Language
R Language
F#
F#

R provides a wide variety of statistical (linear and nonlinear modelling, classical statistical tests, time-series analysis, classification, clustering, ...) and graphical techniques, and is highly extensible.

F# is a mature, open source, cross-platform, functional-first programming language. It empowers users and organizations to tackle complex computing problems with simple, maintainable and robust code.

Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
2.2K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
316
Stacks
3.9K
Stacks
779
Followers
1.9K
Followers
556
Votes
418
Votes
399
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 86
    Data analysis
  • 64
    Graphics and data visualization
  • 55
    Free
  • 45
    Great community
  • 38
    Flexible statistical analysis toolkit
Cons
  • 6
    Very messy syntax
  • 4
    Tables must fit in RAM
  • 3
    Arrays indices start with 1
  • 2
    Messy syntax for string concatenation
  • 2
    No push command for vectors/lists
Pros
  • 53
    Pattern-matching
  • 42
    Makes programming fun again
  • 38
    Type providers
  • 32
    Delightful
  • 30
    Frictionless
Cons
  • 3
    Microsoft tend to ignore F# preferring to hype C#
  • 2
    Interop between C# can sometimes be difficult
  • 1
    Type Providers can be unstable in larger solutions
  • 1
    Hype

What are some alternatives to R Language, F#?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

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