{"id":1074,"date":"2011-03-27T20:32:50","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T18:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theusrus.de\/blog\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2011-03-28T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2011-03-28T04:37:08","slug":"r-guis-which-one-fits-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theusrus.de\/blog\/r-guis-which-one-fits-you\/","title":{"rendered":"R GUIs: Which one fits you?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gap of the new “digital divide” between those who only use computers when they are as easy to use as iPads and smartphones and those who like (or at least accept) to type commands to perform jobs, seems to get bigger and bigger.<\/p>\n

R – the lingua franca of statistical computing – is exactly such a command-line based language, reasonably well designed but still not GUI based at all. At this point GUIs are the only solution to make R accessible for “generation point-and-click” and bridge the divide.<\/p>\n

Personally, I am happy to use all well designed GUIs but as well see the power of language based command line interfaces – you need to work with both to be most effective.
\nBut let’s come to the comparison of the four different frontends for R<\/a> (in lexicographic order) which try to do more than the built-in standard GUIs for the supported platforms:<\/p>\n

(mouse-over the entries in the table to get more details)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n

JGR<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n

\n

RCommander<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n

RKWard<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n

\n

R Studio<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Technology<\/strong><\/td>\nJAVA<\/span><\/td>\ntcl\/tk<\/td>\nKDE<\/span><\/td>\nQt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Platform<\/strong><\/td>\n\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Installation<\/strong><\/td>\nsimple<\/td>\nsimple<\/td>\npainful<\/span><\/td>\neasy<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Approach<\/strong><\/td>\nIDE<\/td>\ncomprehensive<\/td>\ncomprehensive<\/td>\nIDE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Interface<\/strong><\/td>\nSDI<\/span><\/td>\nMDI (plus R)<\/td>\nTDI<\/span><\/td>\nMDI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maturity<\/strong><\/td>\n1.7-5<\/td>\n1.6-3<\/td>\n0.5.5<\/td>\n0.92.44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Console<\/strong><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nyes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CodeEditor<\/strong><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nno<\/span><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nyes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Objbrowser<\/strong><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nno<\/span><\/td>\nyes<\/span><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DataEditor<\/strong><\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nvia fix()<\/td>\nyes<\/td>\nno<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ModelBrws<\/strong><\/td>\nyes<\/span><\/td>\nno<\/td>\nno<\/td>\nno<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Logging<\/strong><\/td>\nconsole<\/td>\nconsole<\/td>\nextended<\/span><\/td>\nconsole<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plugins<\/strong><\/td>\nvia iWidgets<\/span><\/td>\nyes<\/span><\/td>\nyes<\/span><\/td>\nno<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Web-Client<\/strong><\/td>\nno<\/td>\nno<\/td>\nno<\/td>\nyes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are certainly more frontends and features (especially on the technical side) to consider, and not everybody will share my verdict on every point (which I even probably didn’t get completely right), but that’s what comments are for \u00a0…<\/p>\n

My summary recommendations (regarding the four candidates) are:<\/p>\n