The R language gets support from top tech companies and the Linux Foundation
Published: June 30th, 2015
- Christina Cardoza
The Linux Foundation is setting up a new organization dedicated to the R programming language. The R Consortium is designed to advance the analytics and data science language, as well as support both technical and user communities.
"Millions of data scientists and academic researchers use R language every day and want to collaborate with their peers to share visualization and analysis techniques," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "The R Consortium will promote the sharing of ideas and accelerating findings that make R even better for business, research and academic purposes."
(Related: R makes strides with programmers)
The R Consortium will work with the R Foundation and the R user community to complement its work and advance the project for all users and developers. In addition, the group will be hosted by the Linux Foundation as a Collaborative Project, and will be governed under an open model that includes an infrastructure steering committee and a board of directors. The infrastructure steering committee will be made up of the group's founding members and the leads of key infrastructure projects.
Potential projects, according to the R Consortium, include:
Strengthening R-Forge's infrastructure
Developing documentation
Encouraging communication and collaboration
"This is a great opportunity to harness the power of the thriving R user community around the globe and to advance the R language for everyone," said John Chambers, creator of the S programming language, on behalf of the R Foundation Board. "The R Consortium will provide vital funding support for R services and development, made possible by the Linux Foundation's proven track record of bringing large-scale communities together. We are looking forward to working with both organizations."
Companies supporting the R Consortium include Alteryx, Google, Ketchum Trading, Mango Solutions, Microsoft, Oracle, RStudio and TIBCO Software.
"The R Consortium will support the R community by helping companies that rely on R—and their data scientists and developers—to work together to answer some of today's most complex technology and research questions," said David Smith, R community lead at Microsoft. "We're excited to galvanize this initiative as a founding member."
Linux Foundation, R Consortium, R programming language
About Christina Cardoza
Christina Cardoza is the News Editor of SD Times. She is responsible for the oversight of the daily news published to the website as well as the company's weekly newsletter, News on Monday. She covers agile, DevOps, AI, machine learning, mixed reality and software security. She is an undeniable nerd who loves Marvel comics and Star Wars. On Follow her on Twitter at @chriscatdoza!
View all posts by Christina Cardoza
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