R is one of the most widely used programming languages specifically designed for statistical computing and predictive analytics, alongside SAS, MatLab, Mathematica and a number of Python libraries.

If you’re considering moving to a role in statistical programming, now is the time to invest in your skills, expand your knowledge beyond SAS and embrace the power of R, Python, AI and ML.

It was developed to focus on statistical problems and so it naturally handles data. R has lots of in-built functions, but it’s the language’s packages that give it real versatility.

The consistent performers If there are any languages that embody classic programming, they're the C-based languages: Java, C++, C#, and C itself.