Thus, larger data sets can be effectively analyzed. Functions have been added which allow external data files to be imported in sequential blocks, so that all data does not have to be in memory at the same time. Import data functions have been added that allow keeping or dropping variables when importing from external files or relational databases. They also allow filtering on rows. These features allow importing only the data needed for analysis.
All objects now have a class, including atomic objects such as vectors and matrices.
The method-dispatching mechanism has been completely overhauled. New functions provide much more extensive support for creating classes and methods. Manipulate all S-PLUS classes from C code using the new .Call function 5. Relative time objects Time sequence objects 6. Add Statistical Functionality to the S-PLUS Language Resampling methods, including bootstrap and jackknife estimation.