1  R Setup

1.1 Installing R

This workshop is based in the R programming language. As such, it is necessary to have a recent version installed on your computer. I would suggest R Version \(\geq\) 4.4.

These workshop materials were built and tested using R version 4.5.1 (Great Square Root, released 2025-06-13), with all packages updated on or after October 5, 2025.

1.2 Installing R Studio Desktop

Posit makes a wonderful integrated development environment (IDE) called R Studio Desktop. This is my preferred IDE for R, although you may choose others if you like. I will be using R Studio throughout the workshop.

I am using R Studio Version 2025.09.1+401, which was installed on October 5, 2025.

Note: I just started using Positron, the new IDE developed by Posit. I’ve only used it for a couple of weeks so I’m fluent in it / can’t easily help you debug, but all files / syntax we’ll use can be implemented in Positron as well as R. I will most likely transition to using Positron as my primary IDE for all future workshops, given the additional functionality that it affords. If I’m brave I might even do the entire workshop on Posit Cloud.

1.3 Installing R Tools

RTools is necessary to install or build R packages that require compilation of C, C++, or Fortran code, as it provides the necessary compiler toolchain and build tools. The packages that are available on CRAN do not require having RTools installed because the packages hosted there are precompiled binary packages.

I’m unsure of which packages I’ve downloaded from Github or other sources that require compilation, so I recommend also installing at RTools 4.4. (And it’s just good to have in case you need it later.)