Working in the Computer Science Teaching Labs
The course software (R 3.4 and RStudio) is available in the Computer Science Teaching Labs.
You will learn how to access RStudio in the Teaching Labs during your first Lab session.
Working on your own computer
You are strongly encouraged to install R 3.4 and RStudio on your own computer.
If you work on your own computer, make sure to test your code on your account on the Computer Science Teaching Labs system, because we will be testing your code there
Do not use a version of R less than 3.4
Here are instructions for what to do. Read them carefully!
- The lectures will be using R version 3.4.3, and we suggest you install the same version. This is the R version installed on the Computer Science Teaching Labs too. Please do not install anything lower than version 3.4.
Download and install the latest version of R at this website. Choose the correct operating system and download the installation package:- Windows users: choose 'base', then "Download R 3.4.3 for Windows" from the downloads page.
- Mac users: choose the "R-3.4.3.pkg" from the downloads page.
- Linux users: use your package manager to install R.
- Only after downloading R, download and install RStudio, the editing environment we will use in the computer labs and in lecture: RStudio Download page (choose the free version!).
- Run RStudio. If you see "
R version 3.4.3 ..." in the Console tab, you're done! If you see anything else, make sure you have installed R correctly before launching RStudio. - If not automatically set, make RStudio to be the default program to open .R files. (This means that when you double-click on a .R file, it will open in RStudio)
Windows users: Click on Start, then click on or search for 'Default Programs'. Next, click on 'Associate a file type or protocol with a program', select '.R' files, and click 'Change Program'. Select RStudio, or click 'Other Programs' and browse for it, then select it. Click 'OK'. NOTE: These instructions are for Windows 7, but are likely similar for other versions of Windows.
Mac users: Use Finder to navigate to a folder where you saved any .R file, and right-click on the file. Select 'Get Info', then expand the 'Open with' section. In the dropdown, select 'RStudio.app', click 'Change All...', and then 'Continue'.
We will go over this in the first lab and the TAs will help you install R on your laptop, but if you need help later with any of this, please drop by office hours or the Help Centre as soon as possible!
R Documentation
There is extensive R documentation at the R Project Website. Look at the 'Documentation' section on the left-hand menu.