To: lwn@lwn.net
Subject: "R" version 1.0.0
From: Peter Dalgaard BSA <p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk>
Date: 29 Feb 2000 11:06:13 +0100


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statistical analysis environment "R" version 1.0.0 is released
--------------------------------------------------------------

R, also known as "GNU S", is a language and environment for
statistical computing and graphics. R implements a dialect of the
award-winning language S, developed at Bell Laboratories by John
Chambers et al. It provides a wide variety of statistical and
graphical techniques (linear and nonlinear modelling, statistical
tests, time series analysis, classification, clustering, ...).

R is designed as a true computer language with control-flow
constructions for iteration and alternation, and it allows users to
add additional functionality by defining new functions. For
computationally intensive tasks, C and Fortran code can be linked and
called at run time.

R is easily extensible using a package library system and a
wide-ranging and extensive set of contributed packages are available
from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (http://cran.r-project.org
and mirrors), from where the software itself can also be fetched,
presently in source form but in due course also as binaries for the
most common platforms: Linux, the main commercial Unix versions,
and Win32.


R was initially written by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman, who are
Senior Lecturers at the Department of Statistics of the University of
Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand. In addition, a large group of
individuals has contributed to R by sending code and bug reports.

Since mid-1997 development has been in the hands of an international
core group (the "R Core Team") who can modify the R source code CVS
archive. The group currently consists of Doug Bates (USA), Peter
Dalgaard (Denmark), Robert Gentleman (NZ), Kurt Hornik (Austria), Ross
Ihaka (NZ), Friedrich Leisch (Austria), Thomas Lumley (USA), Martin
Maechler (Switzerland), Guido Masarotto (Italy), Paul Murrell (NZ),
Brian Ripley (UK), Duncan Temple Lang (USA), and Luke Tierney (USA).


The release of a current major version indicates that we believe that
R has reached a level of stability and maturity that makes it suitable
for production use. Also, the release of 1.0.0 marks that the base
language and the API for extension writers will remain stable for the
foreseeable future. In addition we have taken the opportunity to tie
up as many loose ends as we could.

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907