Chapter 1
R: What It Does and How It Does It
IN THIS CHAPTER
Getting R and RStudio on your computer
Plunging into a session with R
Working with R functions
Working with R structures
So you’re ready to journey into the wonderful world of R! Designed by and for statisticians and data scientists, R has a short but illustrious history.
In the 1990s, Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman developed R at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The Foundation for Statistical Computing supports R, which is growing more popular by the day.
Getting R
If you don’t already have R on your computer, the first thing to do is to download R and install it.
You’ll find the appropriate software on the website of the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). In your browser, type this web address if you work in Windows:
cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base
Type this one if you work on the Mac:
cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx
Click the link to download R. This puts a win.exe file in your Windows computer or a pkg file in your Mac. In either case, follow the usual installation procedures. When installation is ...
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