R and RStudio

Overview

R with RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R. It includes a console, a syntax-highlighting editor that supports direct code execution, as well as tools for plotting, history, debugging and workspace management.

 

Pre-Installation Notes

R complies and executes on Windows, MacOS, and a variety of Linux distributions. R and RStudio are not available on Chromebooks.
RStudio is an add-on to the R language which provides an enhanced and user friendly interface. It is free and open-source, and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
RStudio requires that the R language is installed. You must install the R language before installing RStudio for it to function correctly.

 

R & RStudio Installation

  1. Go to the R download page. (This is a list of countries which host downloads to the R language)
  2. Find the country which you are located in (or the nearest country) and click on ANY of the provided links below it. If one of the links does not work, you can try another one under the country you chose. 
  3. After you go to the link, you will see three options at the top to download R. See below for installation on different operating systems.
     

 Windows

  1. Select "Download R for Windows".
  2. You then want to click on "base" which is the first option at the top
  3. Then click on "Download R 4.0.x for Windows".
  4. When the download is finished, open the file you downloaded and it will open the Installer. 
  5. There will be a screen which says "Select Components", you may choose which parts of R you would like to install. Use the defaults provided. (unless you know what you are doing)
  6. Click "Next" until it starts installing, then click "Finish" when it is done.
  7. The R language is now installed. You still need to install RStudio. 
  8. Go to the RStudio Download page.
  9. Scroll down and select the FREE option. You do not need to pay for RStudio.
  10. Click on "Download RStudio for Windows".
  11. After downloading, open the file and choose the default options.
  12. If you encounter any problems running RStudio, make sure that you have the R language installed properly.


MacOS

  1. Select "Download R for (Mac) OS X".
  2. Find the section "Latest Release".
  3. Click on the most recent "R-4.0.x.pkg" file. This will start to download the installer on to your computer.
  4. Once it is downloaded, open the .pkg file and then click on the installer file in the window which just opened.
  5. You can select all of the default options.
  6. The R language is now installed. You still need to install RStudio. 
  7. Go to the RStudio Download page.
  8. Scroll down and select the FREE option. You do not need to pay for RStudio.
  9. Click on "Download RStudio for Windows".
  10. After downloading, open the file and choose the default options.
  11. If you encounter any problems running RStudio, make sure that you have the R language installed properly.


Linux

  1. Select "Download R Linux".
  2. You will see an options for Debian, Fedora, Redhat, SUSE, and Ubuntu.
  3. Select the option which matches your Linux distribution.
  4. Each option has the respective installation instructions for each distro.
  5. After you have installed the R language properly, go to the RStudio Download page.
  6. Scroll down close to the bottom, you will see installers as well as Zips/Tarballs. There is even a Tarball of the source code if you want to compile it yourself.
  7. Choose whichever option your are most comfortable with, that also matches your distro. 
  8. You can run RStudio from your computer.
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