Installing R and RStudio

To become started with R, you demand to acquire your own copy. This appendix will show you how to download R as well every bit RStudio, a software application that makes R easier to use. You'll go from downloading R to opening your first R session.

Both R and RStudio are free and easy to download.

How to Download and Install R

R is maintained past an international team of developers who brand the linguistic communication available through the web page of The Comprehensive R Annal Network. The top of the web page provides three links for downloading R. Follow the link that describes your operating system: Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Windows

To install R on Windows, click the "Download R for Windows" link. And so click the "base" link. Next, click the first link at the summit of the new page. This link should say something like "Download R 3.0.iii for Windows," except the 3.0.iii volition be replaced by the nigh electric current version of R. The link downloads an installer programme, which installs the most up-to-date version of R for Windows. Run this program and footstep through the installation sorcerer that appears. The wizard will install R into your program files folders and place a shortcut in your Start menu. Note that you'll need to have all of the appropriate assistants privileges to install new software on your car.

Mac

To install R on a Mac, click the "Download R for Mac" link. Next, click on the R-3.0.3 packet link (or the package link for the almost current release of R). An installer will download to guide you lot through the installation process, which is very easy. The installer lets you customize your installation, just the defaults will be suitable for most users. I've never found a reason to modify them. If your computer requires a password before installing new progams, you'll need information technology here.

Binaries Versus Source

R tin be installed from precompiled binaries or congenital from source on whatsoever operating system. For Windows and Mac machines, installing R from binaries is extremely like shooting fish in a barrel. The binary comes preloaded in its ain installer. Although you lot tin build R from source on these platforms, the process is much more complicated and won't provide much benefit for most users. For Linux systems, the opposite is true. Precompiled binaries can exist found for some systems, only it is much more common to build R from source files when installing on Linux. The download pages on CRAN's website provide information almost building R from source for the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

Linux

R comes preinstalled on many Linux systems, but you'll want the newest version of R if yours is out of appointment. The CRAN website provides files to build R from source on Debian, Redhat, SUSE, and Ubuntu systems under the link "Download R for Linux." Click the link and then follow the directory trail to the version of Linux yous wish to install on. The exact installation procedure will vary depending on the Linux system you employ. CRAN guides the process by grouping each fix of source files with documentation or README files that explicate how to install on your system.

32-chip Versus 64-bit

R comes in both 32-bit and 64-flake versions. Which should you utilise? In near cases, it won't matter. Both versions use 32-bit integers, which means they compute numbers to the same numerical precision. The departure occurs in the way each version manages memory. 64-bit R uses 64-bit memory pointers, and 32-bit R uses 32-bit retentivity pointers. This ways 64-bit R has a larger memory space to utilise (and search through).

Every bit a dominion of thumb, 32-scrap builds of R are faster than 64-chip builds, though not always. On the other hand, 64-bit builds can handle larger files and data sets with fewer memory management bug. In either version, the maximum commanded vector size tops out at around two billion elements. If your operating system doesn't support 64-bit programs, or your RAM is less than 4 GB, 32-bit R is for y'all. The Windows and Mac installers will automatically install both versions if your system supports 64-scrap R.

Using R

R isn't a program that you can open and start using, like Microsoft Word or Net Explorer. Instead, R is a figurer language, like C, C++, or UNIX. You lot apply R by writing commands in the R language and asking your computer to interpret them. In the old days, people ran R code in a UNIX last window—equally if they were hackers in a movie from the 1980s. Now most everyone uses R with an application called RStudio, and I recommend that yous do, too.

R and UNIX

Yous can still run R in a UNIX or Fustigate window by typing the control:

              R

which opens an R interpreter. You can and so exercise your work and close the interpreter by running q() when you are finished.

RStudio

RStudio is an application like Microsoft Word—except that instead of helping you lot write in English language, RStudio helps you write in R. I employ RStudio throughout the book because it makes using R much easier. Also, the RStudio interface looks the same for Windows, Mac Bone, and Linux. That volition assist me match the book to your personal experience.

You tin download RStudio for gratis. Just click the "Download RStudio" button and follow the simple instructions that follow. Once yous've installed RStudio, y'all can open it like whatever other programme on your calculator—unremarkably by clicking an icon on your desktop.

The R GUIs

Windows and Mac users usually practice non program from a final window, so the Windows and Mac downloads for R come up with a simple program that opens a final-like window for you to run R code in. This is what opens when you click the R icon on your Windows or Mac computer. These programs do a piffling more than the basic terminal window, but not much. Yous may hear people refer to them as the Windows or Mac R GUIs.

When you open up RStudio, a window appears with iii panes in it, every bit in Effigy A.i. The largest pane is a console window. This is where you'll run your R code and see results. The console window is exactly what you'd come across if you ran R from a UNIX panel or the Windows or Mac GUIs. Everything else yous see is unique to RStudio. Hidden in the other panes are a text editor, a graphics window, a debugger, a file manager, and much more than. Y'all'll learn about these panes every bit they go useful throughout the course of this volume.

The RStudio IDE for R.

Figure A.one: The RStudio IDE for R.

Do I still need to download R?

Even if yous use RStudio, you'll still need to download R to your computer. RStudio helps y'all employ the version of R that lives on your figurer, simply it doesn't come up with a version of R on its own.

Opening R

Now that you have both R and RStudio on your reckoner, you can begin using R by opening the RStudio program. Open up RStudio only as y'all would whatsoever program, by clicking on its icon or past typing "RStudio" at the Windows Run prompt.