<s>
S	B-Language
is	O
a	O
statistical	O
programming	O
language	O
developed	O
primarily	O
by	O
John	O
Chambers	O
and	O
(	O
in	O
earlier	O
versions	O
)	O
Rick	O
Becker	O
and	O
Allan	O
Wilks	O
of	O
Bell	O
Laboratories	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
modern	O
implementation	O
of	O
S	B-Language
is	O
R	B-Language
,	O
a	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
free	O
software	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S-PLUS	B-Application
,	O
a	O
commercial	O
product	O
,	O
was	O
formerly	O
sold	O
by	O
TIBCO	O
Software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S	B-Language
is	O
one	O
of	O
several	O
statistical	O
computing	O
languages	O
that	O
were	O
designed	O
at	O
Bell	O
Laboratories	O
,	O
and	O
first	O
took	O
form	O
between	O
1975	O
–	O
1976	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Up	O
to	O
that	O
time	O
,	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
statistical	O
computing	O
was	O
done	O
by	O
directly	O
calling	O
Fortran	B-Application
subroutines	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
S	B-Language
was	O
designed	O
to	O
offer	O
an	O
alternate	O
and	O
more	O
interactive	O
approach	O
,	O
motivated	O
in	O
part	O
by	O
exploratory	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
advocated	O
by	O
John	O
Tukey	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
working	O
version	O
of	O
S	B-Language
was	O
built	O
in	O
1976	O
,	O
and	O
operated	O
on	O
the	O
GCOS	B-Application
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
this	O
time	O
,	O
S	B-Language
was	O
unnamed	O
,	O
and	O
suggestions	O
included	O
ISCS	O
(	O
Interactive	O
SCS	O
)	O
,	O
SCS	O
(	O
Statistical	O
Computing	O
System	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
SAS	B-Language
(	O
Statistical	B-Language
Analysis	I-Language
System	I-Language
)	O
(	O
which	O
was	O
already	O
taken	O
:	O
see	O
SAS	B-Language
System	I-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
'	B-Language
S	I-Language
 '	I-Language
(	O
used	O
with	O
single	O
quotation	O
marks	O
until	O
1979	O
)	O
was	O
chosen	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
was	O
a	O
common	O
letter	O
in	O
the	O
suggestions	O
and	O
consistent	O
with	O
other	O
programming	O
languages	O
designed	O
from	O
the	O
same	O
institution	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
(	O
namely	O
the	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
UNIX/32V	B-Operating_System
was	O
ported	O
to	O
the	O
(	O
then	O
new	O
)	O
32-bit	O
DEC	B-Device
VAX	I-Device
,	O
computing	O
on	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
platform	O
became	O
feasible	O
for	O
S	B-Language
.	O
In	O
late	O
1979	O
,	O
S	B-Language
was	O
ported	O
from	O
GCOS	B-Application
to	O
UNIX	B-Application
,	O
which	O
would	O
become	O
the	O
new	O
primary	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1980	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
S	B-Language
was	O
distributed	O
outside	O
Bell	O
Laboratories	O
and	O
in	O
1981	O
source	O
versions	O
were	O
made	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1984	O
two	O
books	O
were	O
published	O
by	O
the	O
research	O
team	O
at	O
Bell	O
Laboratories	O
:	O
S	B-Language
:	O
An	O
Interactive	O
Environment	O
for	O
Data	O
Analysis	O
and	O
Graphics	O
(	O
1984	O
Brown	O
Book	O
)	O
and	O
Extending	O
the	O
S	B-Language
System	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
in	O
1984	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
for	O
S	B-Language
became	O
licensed	O
through	O
AT&T	O
Software	O
Sales	O
for	O
education	O
and	O
commercial	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
1988	O
,	O
many	O
changes	O
were	O
made	O
to	O
S	B-Language
and	O
the	O
syntax	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
New	O
S	B-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
1988	O
Blue	O
Book	O
)	O
was	O
published	O
to	O
introduce	O
the	O
new	O
features	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
transition	O
from	O
macros	O
to	O
functions	O
and	O
how	O
functions	O
can	O
be	O
passed	O
to	O
other	O
functions	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
apply	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
other	O
changes	O
to	O
the	O
S	B-Language
language	I-Language
were	O
to	O
extend	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
"	O
objects	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
syntax	O
more	O
consistent	O
(	O
and	O
strict	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
many	O
users	O
found	O
the	O
transition	O
to	O
New	O
S	B-Language
difficult	O
,	O
since	O
their	O
macros	O
needed	O
to	O
be	O
rewritten	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
other	O
changes	O
to	O
S	B-Language
took	O
hold	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
X11	B-Operating_System
and	O
PostScript	B-Language
graphics	O
devices	O
,	O
rewriting	O
many	O
internal	O
functions	O
from	O
Fortran	B-Application
to	O
C	B-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
double	O
precision	O
(	O
only	O
)	O
arithmetic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
New	O
S	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
very	O
similar	O
to	O
that	O
used	O
in	O
modern	O
versions	O
of	O
S-PLUS	B-Application
and	O
R	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1991	O
,	O
Statistical	O
Models	O
in	O
S	B-Language
(	O
1991	O
White	O
Book	O
)	O
was	O
published	O
,	O
which	O
introduced	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
formula-notation	O
(	O
which	O
use	O
the	O
~	O
operator	O
)	O
,	O
data	O
frame	O
objects	O
,	O
and	O
modifications	O
to	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
object	O
methods	B-Language
and	O
classes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latest	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
S	B-Language
standard	O
is	O
S4	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
provides	O
advanced	O
object-oriented	B-Language
features	O
.	O
</s>
