10 ms·

I can only speak for R but I guess it's the same for all of them: With just very few options the output can be vastly different. Have a look at some basic ggpl

I can only speak for R but I guess it's the same for all of them: With just very few options the output can be vastly different. Have a look at some basic ggplot2 examples (all examples were made from the same data): http://tutorials.iq.harvard.edu/R/Rgraphics/Rgraphics.html http://tutorials.iq.harvard.edu/R/Rgraphics/Rgraphics.html I hate to be negative, but this overview is useful only for people who don't really need it - who want to have a look but not actually do anything with it. It's not useful to select a library (especially since it compares completely different languages), and if you already know which system and language to go with it's not useful either. If you think about learning R: If you don't also learn (a significant amount of) statistics it's a waste of time IMHO. There are (free, if you ignore the "verified certificate" options) courses available on Coursera and edX - even Microsoft has one (on edX). It's worth it - and I mean learning the statistics, not just R. Even if you don't think you need it professionally. Don't try using R as a "graphics" (plotting) or even a programming package - quite frankly, it's not very good at the latter (all modern "real" programming languages are better and more consistent and less "hacky"), but to work your way through lots of DATA quickly R is beautiful.

RockyMcNuts 10y ago
I think the post is useful as an overview of a lot of options, and how hard they are to get started with. True, you'd use R charts because your data and analysis are in R, you wouldn't use R because of the charts.
- lisacrost 10y ago
  Hm, I don't think you can speak for everybody. I find myself (re)creating a chart in R quite often. I sometimes create visualisations for print, and I just want an SVG or PDF to then import to Illustrator. Before I knew that you can export PDFs in Tableau, I often used Tableau for the analysis part and then went to R to recreate the same chart and export as PDF.
  - RockyMcNuts 10y ago
    hey, if it works! though doing analysis in Tableau and charts in R does make me cringe a little … https://goo.gl/9mgTTI https://goo.gl/9mgTTI
lisacrost 10y ago
Hi there, author here. I agree that the post is "not useful to select a library", especially because it just compares one very specific visualisation form. I'm working on a third, more high-level view on data vis tools and hope this one will be more useful for choosing a library.
hadley 10y ago
Very strongly disagree that understanding statistics is a prerequisite to learning R. There is a lot you can do with R with understanding statistics. I also dislike the claim that R is not a real programming language. It is. Just because it makes different choices to other popular languages doesn't make it a toy.
- LionessLover 10y ago
  > is a prerequisite to learning R Which is not what I said, so I have no idea what exactly you "very strongly" disagree with - it's all in your head. You disagree with your own vivid imagination. > I also dislike the claim that R is not a real programming language The only one saying that is YOU! This is you - "Dick from the Internet": http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-06-07 http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-06-07 Making up stuff to (strongly, of course!) disagree with!

RockyMcNuts 10y ago

I think the post is useful as an overview of a lot of options, and how hard they are to get started with. True, you'd use R charts because your data and analysis are in R, you wouldn't use R because of the charts.

lisacrost 10y ago
Hm, I don't think you can speak for everybody. I find myself (re)creating a chart in R quite often. I sometimes create visualisations for print, and I just want an SVG or PDF to then import to Illustrator. Before I knew that you can export PDFs in Tableau, I often used Tableau for the analysis part and then went to R to recreate the same chart and export as PDF.
- RockyMcNuts 10y ago
  hey, if it works! though doing analysis in Tableau and charts in R does make me cringe a little … https://goo.gl/9mgTTI https://goo.gl/9mgTTI

lisacrost 10y ago

Hi there, author here. I agree that the post is "not useful to select a library", especially because it just compares one very specific visualisation form. I'm working on a third, more high-level view on data vis tools and hope this one will be more useful for choosing a library.

hadley 10y ago

Very strongly disagree that understanding statistics is a prerequisite to learning R. There is a lot you can do with R with understanding statistics. I also dislike the claim that R is not a real programming language. It is. Just because it makes different choices to other popular languages doesn't make it a toy.

LionessLover 10y ago
> is a prerequisite to learning R Which is not what I said, so I have no idea what exactly you "very strongly" disagree with - it's all in your head. You disagree with your own vivid imagination. > I also dislike the claim that R is not a real programming language The only one saying that is YOU! This is you - "Dick from the Internet": http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-06-07 http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-06-07 Making up stuff to (strongly, of course!) disagree with!