R, and its graphical user interface (GUI): RStudio are incredibly powerful statistical computing tools, and have been the focus of multiple tutorials, workshops and sessions provided on this site and the wider learning academy.
During these subsections, we will provide insight into the GUI, provide some basic tutorials as well as answer some frequently asked questions.
R itself is a programming language, developed in 1993, written and developed from the S programming language. Although you can easily code and write script in R, the use of RStudio the main (but not only) Graphical User Interface (GUI) enables the easy visualisation, structuring and deployment of code in an integrated and concise environment. Although for many RStudio is their preferred GUI for R, alternatives include Juptyer.
As RStudio is a piece of third-party software, if you are using it on your work machine (provided by your employer) you must download and access RStudio through in alignment with your IT department’s policy. Typically, this can be downloaded through their system rather than the RStudio site.
If however you are using a personal machine, you can download both R & RStudio (it is important you have both installed) from the sites accordingly: R, and RStudio. These downloads are free and open-source.
Alternatively, for those looking to try out RStudio, online services are available via RStudio Cloud this has free & paid for options but is perfect to get started with if your machine is not up to handling RStudio directly.