R

  • R is a programming language.
  • Version 1.0 from 2000 (concept dates back to 1974)
  • Main Aim: Statistical computing and data analysis
  • R is an interpretet language
    • R comes with a command line interface (cli)
    • R code is directly executable via the cli

R

The R command line interface

Why R?

  • Easy to get into (although it might not feel that way at first)
  • Designed for solving scientific problems
  • Big community - Getting help is really easy.
  • Open-source, active development
  • Used in science, industry, healthcare, NGOs, …

Why R?

  • R is expandable
    • Specialized analysis for specific fields
    • Bioinformatics, Medicine, …
    • Machine Learning, Remote Sensing, …
    • Writing Books, Blogs, Apps, …

The R package structure has been the key addition to the software - Chambers (2020)

Why R?

Wickham, Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Grolemund (2023) : R for datascience

  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for R
  • Makes R “convenient” to use
  • R command line interface + Text editor
  • Project Environments, Package Management, Help Pages, Plot Viewer, File Browser …

References

Chambers, John, M. 2020. “S, R, and Data Science.” The R Journal 12 (1): 462. https://doi.org/10.32614/RJ-2020-028.
Wickham, Hadley, Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, and Garrett Grolemund. 2023. R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data. 2nd edition. Beijing Boston Farnham Sebastopol Tokyo: O’Reilly.