ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how to downloading and installing R; the R interface; and how the R is organised. Getting R installed on development practitioners’ computer is simple but will require a good internet connection. Alternatively, they may be able to get an electronic version from a colleague with the same operating system. A good integrated development environment (IDE) for R is called RStudio. RStudio is a freely available and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. IDE interfaces are somewhat more complicated than that of a simple script editor. Once practitioners have opened R they will see that version information about R appears in the console window. This information is important as there can be compatibility issues with older versions of R. A better way to run R code is to use the script editor. To start using R practitioners need to know about the 3 basic levels of organisation in R: Objects, Functions, and Packages.
