R programming language: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The R programming language, sometimes described as "GNU S", is a mathematical language and environment used for statistical analysis and display.

It is based upon S which was developed by John Chambers of Bell Laboratories and described in the paper "Evolution of the S Language" [1]. R is considered by its developers to be an implementation of S, with semantics derived from Scheme.

R is freely available under the GNU GPL and is available for Windows, Macintosh, and many Unix operating systems.