Which is a better initiative to learn data science: Python or R?

Question

Which is a better initiative to learn data science: Python or R?

Answer 1

As far as the question of choosing Python or R is concerned, It is hard to pick a single one out of the two because both of the languages are amazingly flexible data analytics languages. Plus both are free and open-source and were developed in the early 1990s — R for statistical analysis and Python as a general-purpose programming language.

To gain expertise in machine learning, working with large datasets, or creating complex data visualizations, both of them are absolutely essential.

Python is a versatile and powerful language that programmers use to perform a diverse number of tasks in computer science. Learning Python will help you develop a versatile data science toolkit, and as a non-programmer, it is pretty easy to pick up.

On the other hand, R is a programming environment specifically designed for data analysis that is very popular in the data science community. You’ll need to understand R if you want to make it far in your data science career.

In conclusion, learning both these languages and using them for their respective strengths can only improve you as a data scientist.

Versatility and flexibility are traits any data scientists at the top of their field. The Python vs R debate confines you to one programming language. You should look beyond it and embrace both tools for their respective strengths. Using more tools will only make you better as a data scientist.

If you want to get started with the world of Data Science, then you can start with R first and then move to Python, for advancing your skills.

To get started with these basic concepts here is a comprehensive video that covers each of these topics