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R Programming Language – A Statistical Computing and Graphics Tool

The R programming language is a free and open-source scripting language specialized for statistical computing and graphics. Statisticians and data miners use the R language for developing statistical software and data analysis. This widely used software is supported by the R Foundation for statistical computing. It’s a cross-platform programming language that compiles and runs on Unix/Linux platform, Windows, and macOS.

It helps users with more than 4000 specialized packages. That makes it one of the best statistical software packages among statisticians and researchers. While using R programming, the developer enjoys full freedom and power. They can do three unique elements in one single tool – Data Manipulation, Data Analysis, and Data Visualization.

Learn R programming Language
Learn R Programming Language

Like S programming language, R programming is also a GNU project. Hence, we can consider the R language as an alternative implementation of the S language. R uses a command-line interface to let the user interact with the system, hence provides an open-source route. R produces the best publication quality post, and all became possible only for being free and open-source in nature.

Why Learn R Programming Language
Why Learn R Programming Language

This programming language includes functions that support classical statistics, clustering, linear modeling, non-linear modeling, classifications, and much more. It also provides a broad, well-integrated, and coherent set of tools for Data Analysis and Visualization.

R Programming Language Compiler
R Programming Language Compiler

Install R Programming Language


This programming language is fast-moving cutting-edge technology. The latest stable version is not always available in distro-specific or Ubuntu’s repositories. Here in this quick tutorial, we will be using an external repository maintained by the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). For installing it on Ubuntu, you should have a minimum of 1 GB of RAM and a non-root user with sudo privileges.

Now at first, you have to add the relevant GPG key. Open the Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the following command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E298A3A825C0D65DFD57CBB651716619E084DAB9

Now add the R programming language repository in the Ubuntu system:

sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu bionic-cran35/'

Now, update and install:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install r-base

Or else you can download the source code for installing it in any Linux distribution.

Download R Programming Language Source Code

Install RStudio IDE Desktop


After installing the “R”, you might be interested in installing the open-source RStudio IDE. It’s an integrated development environment – IDE interface to a version of the R programming language running on a remote Linux server.

At this stage, you can download RStudio from the official page or else run the below command into the Terminal:

wget https://download1.rstudio.org/rstudio-xenial-1.1.414-amd64.deb

Now install the package:

sudo dpkg -i rstudio-xenial-1.1.414-amd64.deb

If you face any missing dependencies, run the following command:

sudo apt install -f

Run the program:

rstudio

Note: Change the version no if required while downloading the RStudio package.

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Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi Hasan is a passionate enthusiast for technology. He admires all things tech and loves to help others understand the fundamentals of Linux, servers, networking, and computer security in an understandable way without overwhelming beginners. His articles are carefully crafted with this goal in mind - making complex topics more accessible.

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