Using R via PHP for Teaching Purposes: R-php

This paper deals with the R-php statistical software, that is an environment for statisticalanalysis, freely accessible and attainable through the World Wide Web, based onR. Indeed, this software uses, as “engine” for statistical analyses, R via PHP and its designhas been inspired by a paper of de Leeuw (1997). R-php is based on two modules: a basemodule and a point-and-click module. R-php base allows the simple editing of R code ina form. R-php point-and-click allows some statistical analyses by means of a graphicaluser interface (GUI): then, to use this module it is not necessary for the user to knowthe R environment, but all the allowed analyses can be performed by using the computermouse. We think that this tool could be particularly useful for teaching purposes: onepossible use could be in a University computer laboratory to permit a smooth approachof students to R.