Through both quiet iteration and significant revolutions, the volunteers of R have made analyzing and charting time series pleasant.
R began with the basics, a simple line plot:
and then evolved to true time series charts (with a calendar-aware time axis), high-frequency charts, interactive charts, and even charts in the style of The Economist. In fact, more than a dozen options for plotting time series have been introduced over the years as shown in the timeline below:
Timely Portfolio (github): R Financial Time Series Plotting