The metaphor I use to explain R is that most programming languages are like different varieties of swiss army knife: general tools that can do a lot of differen

The metaphor I use to explain R is that most programming languages are like different varieties of swiss army knife: general tools that can do a lot of different stuff with relative ease. R, on the other hand, is like a fillet knife: its totally obtuse for most things, but in spite of its oddities it outshines all other choices at one specific task (statistical data analysis / filleting a fish respectively). Depending on what sort of camping trip you're going on you might want to bring one or the other or both.