Gnu R is a free software widely used in the field of science that enables statistical analyses of collected data and the visualisation of analysis results. With RStudio, a comfortable and platform-independent graphical user interface for Gnu R is available. In the current post we give a short installation guide for RStudio and Gnu R at a MS Windows 10 computer.

Installing the statistical software RStudio at a Microsoft Windows 10 computer

Introduction

Gnu R

Gnu R is a software system with a focus on statistical data analysis and scientific visualisations. Many classical and modern statistical methods are implemented in this software system. Some of them are integrated in the Gnu R base environment, many more can be installed as additional packages. Gnu R is open source software and is available under a free licence (GNU GPL). Gnu R and most of the additional packages can be downloaded from CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network) https://cran.r-project.org/.

RStudio

Gnu R itself provides only a rather simple, command line-based user interface. With RStudio, however, there is a comfortable, integrated development environment and graphical user interface for Gnu R. RStudio allows statistical data analysis with the help of scripts. The editor integrated in RStudio enables auto-completion, automatic indentation, syntax highlighting and code folding. There is an integrated help function. Information about (data) objects can be displayed in the working environment. Data sets can be viewed and edited. In addition, version management (Git) and a debugger are integrated in RStudio.

Installation instructions

Voraussetzungen

Minimum requirements for the hardware of a computer (notebook/desktop PC) for a practical use of RStudio with Gnu R are:

• 8 GB RAM,
• 100 GByte SSD and
• Intel i5 processor.

Gnu R must be installed before installing RStudio.

Installation of Gnu R

The installation file of the current version of Gnu R can be obtained from the CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network) server https://cran.r-project.org/. On the website, follow the link Download R for Windows.

On the next page, follow the link install R for the first time.

On the web page that then opens, you can download the installation file of the current version of Gnu R can be downloaded. In this example, it is version 4.2.1.

Once the Gnu R installation file has been completely downloaded, it can be executed. To do this, click on the installation file in the download folder of the browser.

Allow the installation routine to make changes to the computer.

Subsequently, the installation wizard is started and you can select a language to be used during the software installation.

You must agree to the licence agreement (GNU General Public License) by clicking on the the Next button.

In the subsequent four points, one can follow the recommendation of the installation routine. It is necessary to:

• set the installation location of the software,
  
• select the components to be installed,
  
• customise the start option and
  
• set additional tasks of the installation routine.
  

Once the installation of Gnu R has been successfully completed, you can continue with the installation of RStudio.

Installation of RStudio

RStudio, the integrated development environment for Gnu R, is provided under two different licences. In the scientific environment, it is recommended to use RStudio free of charge under the terms of a GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).

Information and the installation file for RStudio Desktop can be accessed by following this link https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/. Here you scroll down the web page to the option “2: Install RStudio Desktop”. To start downloading the installer, click on the button “Download RStudio Desktop for Windows” (1). Further down on this website you will also find the installers for other operating systems.

Once the RStudio installation file has been completely downloaded, it can be executed. To do this, click on the installation file in the download folder of the browser (1).

It is necessary to allow the installation routine of RStudio to make changes to the computer.

Next, the installation wizard is started.

In the following two points one can follow the recommendation of the installation routine. It is necessary to:

• determine the installation location of the software and
  
• set the name of the folder in the Windows start menu.
  

After completing the installation wizard, RStudio can be used.