Setup R in your System

Vivek Jason

Topics Covered

1. Installing R

2. Installing RStudio

3. Installing the tidyverse package

4. Using R Tools for package installation and updates

What is R?

R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

Installing R - Step 1

  1. Visit the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) at https://cran.r-project.org/.

Installing R - Step 2

  1. Choose your operating system (Windows, OS X, Linux).
  2. Click on “base” or the latest version.
  3. Download and install it.

What is RStudio?

RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R. It makes it easier to write and manage your R code.

Installing RStudio - Step 1

Visit https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/ and click on the “Download” button under RStudio Desktop.

Installing RStudio - Step 2

  1. Choose your operating system.
  2. Download and install it.

What is Tidyverse?

Tidyverse is a collection of R packages designed for data science. All packages share an underlying design philosophy and grammar.

Installing the Tidyverse Package

To install the tidyverse package, run the following command in the RStudio console:

install.packages("tidyverse", repos = "http://cran.us.r-project.org")
package 'tidyverse' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

The downloaded binary packages are in
    C:\Users\sueth\AppData\Local\Temp\RtmpwR45rs\downloaded_packages

Loading the Tidyverse Package

After installation, you can load the tidyverse package with:

library(tidyverse)

Introduction to R Tools

R Tools is a collection of tools that integrates nicely with R and RStudio. It’s essential for developing packages and includes tools like gcc and make.

Please note that as of 2021, RTools has been superseded by RTools40 for R versions 4.0.0 and onwards. The install process is similar but you should consult the most up-to-date resources.

Why RTools?

- Needed if you plan to create your own R packages

- Useful if you want to install a development version of a package hosted on GitHub

Installing RTools - Step 1

Visit CRAN’s RTools download page at https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/.

Installing RTools - Step 2

  1. Download the appropriate RTools installer for your version of R. Check your R version by running `R.version.string` in your R console.
  2. Run the installer and follow the instructions. Make sure to check the box that says “Edit the system PATH”.
  3. Restart RStudio so the changes take effect.

Verifying RTools Installation

In RStudio, run the following command:

Sys.which("make")
                                      make 
"C:\\RBuildTools\\4.2\\usr\\bin\\make.exe"

If RTools was installed correctly, it should show the path to the `make` executable.

Using RTools

Now, you can use the `install.packages()` function to install packages from source or the `devtools::install_github()` function to install packages from GitHub.

# install.packages("package_name", type = "source")

# devtools::install_github("username/package_name")