Introduction to R Programming Language: Basics and Applications
R can be viewed as a programming language that happens to come with a large library of pre-defined functions that can be used to perform various tasks. A major focus of these pre-defined functions is statistical data analysis, and these allow R to be used purely as a toolbox for standard statistical techniques. However, some knowledge of R programming is essential to use it well at any level. For advanced users, in particular, the main appeal of R (as opposed to other data analysis software) is as a programming environment suited to data analysis.
Download R software: Click Here
Download R studio: Click Here
Interacting with R. Unlike languages like C, Fortran, or Java, R is an interactive programming language. This means
that R works interactively, using a question-and-answer model:
• Start R
• Type a command and
press Enter
• R executes this command (often printing the result)
• R then waits for more
input
• Type q() to exit
Here are some simple examples:
<span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">></span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">+</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">[</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">4</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">></span><span class="pln"> exp</span><span class="pun">(-</span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pun">)</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="com">## exponential function</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">[</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.1353353</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">></span><span class="pln"> log</span><span class="pun">(</span><span class="lit">100</span><span class="pun">,</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="kwd">base</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">10</span><span class="pun">)</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">[</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">></span><span class="pln"> runif</span><span class="pun">(</span><span class="lit">10</span><span class="pun">)</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">[</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.39435130</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.98811744</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.07357143</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.16689946</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.80572031</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.05292909</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">[</span><span class="lit">7</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.70498250</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.18781961</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.07865185</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0.21618324</span><span class="pln"> </span>
Don’t copy and paste the commands from this guide into R; you will find it very hard to remember the details of the language and will have to look everything up when you come to code something yourself.