Jan 2, 2022
How to install, setup and get started with RStudio IDE on your Windows 10 device…
What exactly is RStudio IDE?
- The RStudio IDE is a set of integrated tools designed to help you be more productive with R and Python.
- RStudio includes a simple console, syntax-highlighting editor that supports direct code execution, and a variety of integrated tools for plotting, viewing history, debugging and managing your R programming workspace.
- Note: IDE — An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development purposes.
Why should I even bother to learn it?
RStudio, being a fully fledged IDE, has things like auto fill, error checking, debugging, an interface for uploading text/excel files, and an ability to keep track of all your environment variables seamlessly and easily.
RStudio is more useful for writing production code than simply using R Programming, and in general it makes a lot of sense to use both.
What is the difference between R Programming and RStudio?
It is crucial to note the key differences between R and RStudio. R is a programming language used for statistical computing and analytical purposes, while RStudio uses the R language to develop statistical programs.
In R, you can write a program and run the code independently of any other computer program. RStudio however, must be used alongside R in order to properly function.
Often referred to as an IDE, or integrated development environment, RStudio allows users to develop and edit programs in R by supporting a large number of statistical packages, higher quality graphics, and the ability to manage your workspace.
R and RStudio are not separate versions of the same program, and cannot be substituted for one another.
Key Difference: R may be used without RStudio, but RStudio may not be used without R.
RStudio makes using R a lot nicer, and lets you use lots of packages very easily. (For example, you can use Knitr or Packrat with R by explicitly defining and calling their functions, but RStudio automates their access and usage seamlessly.)
Analogously, Eclipse is an IDE for the Java language.
Step-By-Step — lets get RStudio up and running ASAP…
The first step is you need to go to the following website and download the latest RStudio IDE:
For this tutorial, I am using the RStudio Desktop Open Source License version which is free. There are other Commercial license options available, but they do appear to be quite pricey…
Note: It is important that you have previously installed R prior to installing RStudio — check out the graphic below that states this requirement below:
The 156MB took approximately 5 minutes on my Internet NBN link, and once you double-click the installation file you will see the following setup dialog box:
Now after pressing Finish, and knowing what I knew from installing R Programming previously, I explicitly invoked he RStudio program so as to get off and running…
Well there you go everyone, RStudio is now installed on my Windows 10 device, and I am now ready to use the IDE and get cracking programming in R.
In future posts, I will be showing and explaining how to write R programs that show its data analytics capabilities, the graphical IDE options it offers, and how these posts can help your career as a budding data scientist.
Thank you for reading this, and if you have any feedback for me please get in touch, and I will get back to you, Happy New Year, and happy coding in R.
