Introduction

I have to be honest: one of the things I love the most about R is the huge amount of domain-specific packages.

I am sure you know that feeling. You start working on a new topic, let's say financial portfolio optimization. You start studying a bit of theory and then ask yourself, "Will there be an R package for this?"

In 90 percent cases, the answer will be "Yes." Actually, if R can be considered a powerful programming language, it is in domain-specific applications that we can appreciate its true power.

As of June 24, 2015, 6,712 packages for Windows OS were computed. We could even paraphrase that well-known Apple remark into:

"There's a package for that."

Chapter 7, Developing Static Reports, which follows, highlights this R richness, showing 13 domain applications where specific packages play a central role.