S Programming (Hardcover)

~ William Venables (Author), B.D. Ripley (Author) "S is a language for "programming with data", in the words of the title of Chambers (1998)..." (more)
Key Phrases: Visual Basic, Child Cache Working, List Box (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION "Let me come right to the point. If you use S at all – either through the S-PLUS commercial software package or its free open software variant, R – get this book. It is a superbly written, indispensable resource to the S language. Whether you merely dabble in S/R (or are contemplating such dabbling) or are a seasoned veteran who uses it extensively, you will find [this book] invaluable…I would be remiss if I did not pay homage to what I consider a most welcome feature of this book: the superb quality of the writing and the remarkable attention to detail by both authors and publisher. V&R write clearly and very concisely; they take great care to explain what needs to be explained, but they do not patronize the reader with trivialities; they use many well chosen examples and code snippets to support their expositions; and they organize and sequence topics logically, and extensively and liberally cross-reference them by page number to help the reader understand how they relate. Finally, V&R frequently take pains to point out lurking software traps and documentation inaccuracies that can plague users. I consider such conscious efforts to mitigate future aggravations for readers a thoughtful courtesy that more software documenters should emulate. I also would like to compliment the publishers on the superb typography and page layout that clearly distinguishes text, code, tables, section headings, and so forth. The editing is also remarkable: I noticed no errors at all! This level of attention to production detail makes the book very easy to either browse or study. I appreciated it very much. In many respects, [this book] could serve as a model for what ought to be the standard in software references. It strikes a careful and effective balance between providing a big picture of the overall language structure and the details necessary to fit the pieces together and make them work…It is written with attention to style and clarity and produced to help the reader grasp the content as easily as possible. Such details matter, and it is a pleasure to give credit where credit is clearly due. S PROGRAMMING should be on every S/R user’s desk next to the computer, and maybe in every software documenter’s library as well."

Product Description

S is a high-level language for manipulating, analysing and displaying data. It forms the basis of two highly acclaimed and widely used data analysis software systems, the commercial S-PLUS(R) and the Open Source R. This book provides an in-depth guide to writing software in the S language under either or both of those systems. It is intended for readers who have some acquaintance with S language and want to know how to use it more effectively, for example to build re-usable tools for streamlining routine data analysis or to implement new statistical methods. One ofhe most outstanding strengths of the S language is the ease with which it can be extended by users. S is a functional language, and functions written by users are first-class objects treated in the same way as functions provided by the system. S code is eminently readable and so a good way to document precisely what algorithms were used, and as much of the implementations are themselves written in S, they can be studied as models and to understand their subtleties. The current implementations also provide easy ways for S functions to call compiled code written in C, Fortran and similar languages; this is documented here in depth. Increasingly S is being used for statistical or graphical analysis within larger software systems or for whole vertical-market applications. The interface facilities are most developed on Windows(R) and these are covered with worked examples. The authors have written the widely adopted 'Modern Applied Statistics with S-PLUS', now in its third edition, and several software libraries that enhance S-PLUS and R; these and the examples used in both books are available on the Internet. Dr. W.N. Venables is a senior Statistician with the CSIRO/CMIS Environmentrics Project in Autralia, having been at the Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide for many years previously. Professor B.D. Ripley holds the Chair of Applied Statistics at the University of Oxford, and is the author of four other books on spatial statistics, simulation, pattern recognition and neural networks. Both authors are known and respected thorughout the international S and R communities, for their books, workshops, short courses, freely available software and through their extensive contributions to the S-news and R mailing lists.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Springer (January 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387989668
• ISBN-13: 978-0387989662
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #833,919 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only for software developers programming in S, S-PLUS or R!, May 18, 2000

By	Herbert M. Bryant Jr. (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those seeking an introduction to programming in S, or seeking information on how to use S for statistical applications, this is NOT a good choice as a "first purchase", nor is it intended to be. Instead, choose these authors' other textbook, Modern Applied Statistics with S-Plus.

This book isn't primarily about using S, using S-PLUS (a commercial version of S), nor using R (an Open Source version of S), but rather, it's about showing how to write programming extensions to the base S functions. In fact, for those seeking such guidance, this is the book's great virtue.

It's written by two world-class authorities on the subject of S programming, persons who are generous in their efforts to help others and who can be contacted through the Internet. However, this particular text assumes the reader is already committed to using S, and hence, contains little 'motivational' material. Yet for the audience to whom it's addressed, it's essential, or at least highly recommended, reading.

The latest commercial version of S (S-PLUS 2000 from Mathsoft, Inc.) has a graphical user interface (GUI). A chapter is included in the latter portion of the book on how to program such interfaces.

Also, a chapter is devoted to extending S with compiled code written in C, Fortran, or C++. Since S is an interpreted language, using compiled code can increase the speed of newly created functions. This is highly technical, however, and not for the neophyte.

Potential software developers of vertical-market applications involving S-PLUS, among others, will benefit from purchasing "S Programming" by Venables & Ripley.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars you may be served better by other books, September 12, 2002

By A Customer

Much of the text appears as if the authors wanted to put information on paper and get it published, without regard to the readability or clarity of the text. The information in this text is largely good information. I have used a lot of it. However, you can get most of the same information elsewhere without having to "read between the lines" (and without all those damned footnotes!!). For example, a MUCH better and more comprehensive book is Programming with Data: A Guide to the S Language (1998) by Chambers (Springer): Chambers defines terms before using them, illustrates concepts with simple examples before moving to complex examples, and gives overviews of ideas prior to more extensive chapters. All of that is routinely missing in Venables and Ripley (V&R). Thus, even if you buy V&R to learn more about programming in S, it almost cannot be your sole reference, which is unfortunate and misleading given its title.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost vital for those writing their own extensions, July 23, 2002

By A Customer

As stated in the book's Editorial review, the back cover, and other customer reviews, this book is *not an introductory book*. If you need that, check out Modern Applied Statistics with S-Plus (same authors). However, if you're familiar with an S dialact (R, S-Plus), and are writing your own functions, packages, etc., this book will save you from Great Anguish.

It presents the ideas behind S; the engine under it all. In doing so, it is very good at shifting your thinking from S usage to S programming - thinking "close to the machine". It also walks you past the common traps, pointing out the "gotchas" along the way.

It's not a big book; around 260 pages for a very big subject. It is, however, very clear and far-reaching. I can only think of one other book that puts as much clear information into such a small space; Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language".

On the whole, a very useful, very carefully written book.