R is an open-source implementation of the S programming language combined with lexical scoping semantics from Scheme, which allow objects to be defined in predetermined blocks rather than the entirety of the code. S was

Data processing
R's data structures include vectors, arrays, lists, and data frames. Vectors are ordered collections of values and can be mapped to arrays of one or more

Various applications can be used to edit or run R code.
Early developers preferred to run R via the command line console, succeeded by those who prefer an

R has local communities worldwide for users to network, share ideas, and learn.
A growing number of R events bring users together, such as conferences (e.g. useR!, WhyR?, conectaR, SatRdays), meetups, as well as R-Ladies groups that promote gender diversity.

R's capabilities are extended through user-created packages, which offer statistical techniques, graphical devices, import/export, reporting (RMarkdown, knitr, Sweave), etc. These packages and their easy installation and use has been cited as driving the language's

The main R implementation is written in R, C, and Fortran. Several other implementations aimed at improving speed or increasing extensibility. A closely related implementation is pqR (pretty quick R) by Radford M. Neal with improved memory management and

The official annual gathering of R users is called "useR!". The first such event was useR! 2004 in May 2004, Vienna, Austria. After skipping 2005, the useR! conference has been held annually,