Why R?

Most downloads below use the R software and you may ask why…

Several years we were working with different systems and languages like Fortran, Basic, Pascal, Delphi, JAVA, C/C++, Spreadsheets, Simulation Dynamics tools etc. Now we do most things in R and some time critical parts in C/C++ or Fortran. Why?

R is more efficient for us: easy programming, fast enough, packages for “almost everything”, flexible graphics, supports writing up research. Important was also, that the R community uses scientific publications for communication and getting scientific credit. We still use other software, but only with R we feel it worth to make our tools publicly available.

R Packages

deSolve (Soetaert, Petzoldt, Setzer): the main workhorse for initial value problems of differential equations in R.

FME (Soetaert, Petzoldt): tools for sensitivity analysis, model fitting and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)

marelac (Soetaert, Petzoldt, Meysman): tools for aquatic sciences; chemical and physical constants, physical properties of seawater and dissolved substances, calculation tools

simecol (Petzoldt): implements an “object model of models”, applicable to ODE/PDEs, IBM/ABMs and cellular automata

qualV (Jachner, Boogaart, Petzoldt): model validation criteria, especially for models with time delay

proto (Grothendieck and Petzoldt, now maintained by Hadley Wickham): implements lightweight prototype-based (i.e. classless) object orientation

cardidates (Rolinski, Sachse, Petzoldt): peak-fitting and determination of “cardinal dates” in environmental time series

growthrates (Petzoldt): fit population growth models to experimental data

antibioticR (Petzoldt, under development): tools to deal with antibiotic resistance data, especially zone diameter (ZD) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) distributions