I used Clojure to manipulate the data, construct the system, think of R as a library of data analysis and data visualization, use DSL to call R, take the professional advantages of R, avoid the shortcomings of R.
Let professional language do professional things, and the advantages of various languages complement each other.
Dunno if you're aware of Bayadera[1], but if you happen to like a Bayesian workflow and don't rely overmuch on ggplot2 niceness, you can actually go a whole day without touching R.
Let professional language do professional things, and the advantages of various languages complement each other.