What is RStudio
To use R, you write code. These are lines of text that tell the computer what to do with your data. You can run code in the R console, but most people use it through RStudio. RStudio is a friendly interface that makes coding easier.
RStudio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that makes coding much easier. It helps you to:
Write, organize and run your R code mode efficiently
View your data, code and results in one place
Create plots, manage files and install packages
Get useful hints as you type (like autocomplete and error messages)
You still need to have R installed, because RStudio runs on top of R, it doesn’t replace it. But once both are installed, RStudio becomes the main way most people work with R.
RStudio is developed by a company called Posit (formerly known as RStudio Inc.). RStudio is available for free on their website.
- R is the engine. It’s the software that actually runs your code and does the computing. It can technically run entirely on its own, with no RStudio in sight.
- RStudio is the dashboard. It’s the interface around R that makes writing, organizing, and running R code far more comfortable, but it doesn’t compute anything by itself.
You need both, but they aren’t the same program, and only one of them is doing the calculating.
You write some R code in RStudio and press “Run”. Which program is actually executing the code and computing the result: R, or RStudio?
R is. RStudio is the dashboard you’re typing in and looking at, but it sends your code to R, which is what actually executes it and computes the result. If R weren’t installed, RStudio would have nothing to send your code to.
The Posit website