Title: Almost vital for those writing their own extensions
Product review: As stated in the book's Editorial review, the back cover, and other customer reviews, this book is *not an introductory book*. If you need that, check out Modern Applied Statistics with S-Plus (same authors). However, if you're familiar with an S dialact (R, S-Plus), and are writing your own functions, packages, etc., this book will save you from Great Anguish.It presents the ideas behind S; the engine under it all. In doing so, it is very good at shifting your thinking from S usage to S programming - thinking "close to the machine". It also walks you past the common traps, pointing out the "gotchas" along the way.It's not a big book; around 260 pages for a very big subject. It is, however, very clear and far-reaching. I can only think of one other book that puts as much clear information into such a small space; Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language".On the whole, a very useful, very carefully written book.
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