Author Description

S is a programming language and environment for all kinds of computing involving data. It has a simple goal: I To turn ideas into software, quickly and faithfully I Any application involving data is suitable for S, particularly if some of your ideas involve the structure and meaning of the data. You use S interactively, giving it tasks, looking at data, and creating objects that describe your projects. S can be, and is, used in a "non programming" style, exploiting quick interaction and graphics to look at data. This use often leads to a desire to customize what you are doing, and S encourages you to slide into programming, perhaps without noticing. This book is a guide to what happens next: to programming with S, starting from that first simple step and carrying on through increasingly ambitious stages, as your programming becomes more useful to you and to others. The first three chapters of this book survey programming in S, empha sizing three different aspects: 1. highlights of the main techniques with examples, including an extended example in section 1.7. 2. the essential concepts underlying all S programming; 3. a quick reference to many of the tools and techniques in S.