The real advantage of R is the ability to easily manipulate, explore, and graph data. The learning curve initially is challenging, but in the long run one is able to conduct analyses that would otherwise require a tremendous amount of computer programming and time. Some epidemiologists may find R difficult to learn. However, even for those unfamiliar with matrix algebra, there are many analyses one can accomplish in R without using any advanced mathematics and that would be very difficult in other programs. The ability to easily manipulate data in R will allow one to do good descriptive epidemiology, life table methods, graphical displays, and exploration of epidemiologic concepts.
R allows one to work with data in any way it comes.
Anyone that uses a calculator or spreadsheet, or analyzes numerical data at least weekly should seriously consider learning and using R. This includes epidemiologists, statisticians, physician researchers, engineers, and faculty and students of math and science courses, to name just a few. When you learn and use R regularly you will save significant amounts of time and money. It's a complete environment for data analysis and graphics. It's straightforward programming language facilitates the development of functions to extend and improve the efficiency of your analyses. R is available for many computer platforms, including Linux and Windows.