Conclusions
R is not really a language for algorithmic programming. It is designed to be flexible and make statistical analysis and visualization easy, but not really to be fast. With modern compiler and runtime system technology, it could probably become much faster than it is today, but basic speed has not been a priority. Programming time—the time it takes you to implement an analysis—is prioritized higher than running time—the time it takes the computer to complete the analysis. This is the sensible choice for many applications. There is no point in spending an extra week programming to save a day of running time. Since programmers’ time is more important than computers’, it usually isn’t worth it to program a week to save a month of running ...
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