"R is similar to other programming languages, like C, Java and Perl, in that it helps people perform a wide variety of computing tasks by giving them access to various commands."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/technology/business-computing/07program.html
Oh. My. God. I just don't even know where to begin.
"Like most modern programming languages, R is capable of performing a variety of tasks, but it specializes in powerful statistical analysis."
The target reader for this article has never heard of C or Perl, and probably not Java; doesn't know the phrase "Turing-complete"; doesn't think that Haskell is cool; doesn't know why one would choose one language over another.
What is this reader supposed to make of "by giving them access to various commands"? I guarantee that if I read that to my father, who is a smart man who has read the NYT for his whole life, he would not know what this means.
What does "helps people perform a wide variety of computing tasks" mean? "Helps"?
It's unbearably bad. And I'm not saying from a geek standpoint--it's not that it glosses over some fine distinction that only we care about. It's bad from the standpoint of anyone trying to get information out of it.
Re:a better sentence
bart on 2009-01-07T13:30:10
It's also bad in listing a number of names of programming languages, as the author apparently assumes the user doesn't even know what programming is. It is totally superfluous information.Re:a better sentence
parv on 2009-01-08T02:29:25
The proposed sentence added the most important thing about R. In light of that the original sentence is overly verbose.
Not knowing anything about programming, OTOH, original sentence is just as good.
Re:a better sentence
singingfish on 2009-01-08T13:48:50
I think my non-editorial brain heard a faint alarm bell when I read that sentence. I was just excited about the faintest whiff of legitimacy:)
