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Introduction to R
About R
- R website, https://www.r-project.org/
- Free and open source software
- Runs on Windows, OSX, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, and more
- Created in ‘93 as a free software version of the S language
- R is both a programming language and a programming environment
- Installing R provides the default “R Base" suite of R packages, the modules of functionality available by default
- Additional packages can be installed from within R via CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network)
- CRAN website, https://cran.r-project.org/
- The main source for downloading R and most packages
- Documentation is provided with each package for learning how to use the package
- Datasets are often available within a package to practice using the its functions
- Very active global community of users and developers
Programming Features of R
- Interpreted language (commands are executed directly and output is provided immediately)
- Accessible via:
- Command line
- The R application itself
- 3rd party graphical user interfaces, like RStudio
- Supports procedural programming with functions and some object-oriented programming
- data structures include
- Vectors
- Matrices
- Arrays
- Data frames
- Lists
RStudio
- RStudio website, https://www.rstudio.com/
- Free and open source software
- Most popular integrated development environment (IDE) for R
- Combines the power of the command line with the smaller learning curve of a graphical user interface
- Provides the same experience across operating systems (which the R application and other GUIs do not)
- Requires prior R installation