Prerequisites

Prior knowledge

This is an advanced R course, so basic knowledge of R is expected.

The first three sessions of Warwick-Stats-Resources R Foundations course covers the required material:

Members of the University of Warwick can have access to video recordings of these sessions being taught online in Autumn Term 2022. Please contact ella.m.kaye@warwick.ac.uk to be sent the links.

git and GitHub

Although there will be some time dedicated to this in the workshop, it would be advantageous if you already have:

The git and GitHub material from a previous version of this workshop walks through the setup.

R and RStudio

Please ensure that you have up-to-date versions of R and RStudio installed prior to the first session. If you are on MacOS/Linux or a self-managed Windows laptop, install the latest versions, currently R-4.3.0 and RStudio-2023.03.1.

We also strongly recommend all participants to install the development tools to avoid potential issues installing packages.

ITS Managed Windows Machines

R and RStudio are available on student computers (via Start, All Programs) and also staff computers (via Start, All Programs, Software Center).

Installing R

Download the pre-compiled binary for your OS from https://cloud.r-project.org/ and install. More specifically:

For Windows

Click “Download R for Windows”, then “base”, then “Download R-4.3.0 for Windows”. This will download an .exe file; once downloaded, open to start the installation.

For Mac

Click “Download R for macOS”, then “R-4.3.0-arm64.pkg” (the first option) to download the installer for Macs with Apple Silicon chips or “R-4.3.0-x86_64.pkg” (the second option) to download the installer for Macs with Intel chips. Run the installer to complete installation.

For Linux

Click “Download R for Linux”. Instructions on installing are given for Debian, Fedora, Redhat, Suse and Ubuntu distributions. Where there is a choice, install both r-base and r-base-dev.

Installing R Studio Desktop (Open Source Edition)

Downloads are available from https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/#download

Download the relevant installer either under the “Install RStudio” header or, scrolling down the page, from the ‘All installers and Tarballs’ section. Run the installer to complete installation.

Development Tools

Some additional tools may be required to compile R packages from source.

For Windows

NOTE: This does not require admin rights.

Download the Rtools installer that matches your version of R from https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/. Run the installer, Rtools.exe, keeping the default settings.

For Mac

Install Command Line Tools.

Either:

  1. Download and install XCode from the Mac AppStore: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835?mt=12
  2. Within XCode go to Preferences -> Downloads and install the Command Line Tools

Or for a smaller download size:

  1. Register as an Apple Developer (free) here: https://developer.apple.com/programs/register/
  2. Download the Command Line Tools for XCode appropriate for the version of OS X you are running from here: https://developer.apple.com/downloads/

For Linux

If you installed r-base-dev, when installing R, you should have all you need to build packages from source. Otherwise return to the instructions for installing R for your distribution and follow the instructions there to install the additional tools.