3.1 The R Project for Statistical Computing

R is an open source (i.e. free) programming language and software environment for statistical computing, and is widely used among statisticians and data analysts. It is similar to other programming languages you may have heard of before (e.g., Python), but R is more suited to our data analysis needs. However, once you get the hang of one programming language, it is easier to adopt subsequent languages.

In addition to using R, we will also be using RStudio. RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R. The desktop version of R studio is also free, and comes with many useful features. Essentially, RStudio is a handy middle-man that we will be telling R what we want it to do.

This section will walk you through downloading, installing, and preparing R and RStudio for our purposes. Once this is accomplished, you should be able to replicate every application contained in this course companion by using the code contained in the gray boxes. Let us begin!