Microsoft Updates R Distro for Big Data Analytics -- Visual Studio Magazine

Microsoft Updates R Distro for Big Data Analytics

By David Ramel
10/31/2017

Microsoft R Open, the company's enhanced, open source distribution of the R programming language especially suited for Big Data statistical analysis and data science, has been upgraded.

Moving to Microsoft R Open 3.4.2 matches the versioning of the standard R language engine, overseen by The R Foundation.

The upgrade makes Microsoft R Open 100 percent compatible with the R-3.4.2 standard, the company said, making it work with all packages, scripts and applications supporting that version of the world's most widely used statistical software.

The upgrade includes all base and recommended R packages in addition to specialized packages developed by Microsoft. A new high-performance default CRAN repository (Comprehensive R Archive Network) ensures access to the same set of CRAN package versions to ensure compatibility across projects. The repository is based on an Oct. 15 snapshot and won't change until the next release.

Other new enhancements to the offering include new math libraries that allow for multi-threaded computation, and a new checkpoint package that facilitates sharing R code and replicate computational results using specific versions of R packages.

The free download, available for Windows and Linux, is available now.

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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