We will do all of our work in this course with the free & open source programming language R. While you can run everything you need directly in the command line using R, it is a lot more convenient to use an integrated development environment (IDE) like R Studio. Think of R as the engine of a car, and R Studio as the dashboard.
You will need to install both, but we will ever only open R Studio.
Installing R
First you will need to download and install R on your computer.
- Go to the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) that maintains
Rand its official packages at: https://cran.r-project.org - Click on “Download R for …” your operating system (Mac or Windows)
- If you use a Mac, scroll to the first
.pkgfile listed on the left and download. - If you use Windows, click on
base(“This what you want to install R for the first time”)
- Install the downloaded package like you would any software application on your computer.
- Typically, open the file from your
Downloadsfolder (or whever you save downloaded files) and follow the prompts to install on your computer.
- If you use a Mac, also download and install
XQuartz(https://www.xquartz.org/). You do not need to do this on Windows.
Install R Studio
- Go to RStudio.com and download the free desktop version.
- The website should automatically detect your operating system and give you a large button to click to download the application.
- Install the downloaded package like you would any software application on your computer.
R Studio Cloud
R is free, but sometimes can be difficult to install and configure on your computer. To make things easier, and to ensure everyone has a consistent experience for class, you can (and should) use the free Rstudio.Cloud service initially. This allows you to run R in your browser (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc), meaning you don’t need to worry about installing things on your computer.
Go to https://rstudio.cloud and create an account (please use your first and last name). I will send you a link via email to join our class workspace.
R Studio Cloud is convenient, but is not designed to be as fully customizable and extensive as the main desktop version. I would start with the Cloud version if you have trouble with your own computer or computers on campus running R or R Studio. But ultimately, you will want to eventually do everything on your own computer and not the cloud version.