In vsbuffalo/eve102: Functions and Datasets for EVE102: Population Genetics

library(eve102)
knitr::opts_chunk$set(prompt=FALSE, comment="", fig.width=6, fig.height=6)

R is a programming language designed for statistical computing. It allows you to do incredibly powerful data manipulation, fit statistical models, and visualize data. R has grown incredibly popular in recent years (e.g., see this New York Times articles on R), and is the foundation of most of modern data science. We'll use R in this course, and while at times it may be tricky (learning new programming languages is always tricky), it's worth the effort as knowing R is a very marketable skill. We'll cover the basics here, but other excellent references are:

• R in a Nutshell by Joseph Alder. Available online through the UC Davis campus proxy.
• The Art of R Programming by Norman Matloff (UC Davis computer science professor).
• Advanced R by Hadley Wickham. This is a great online resource (and now, published book).

Installing R and RStudio

First, we need to install R, RStudio, and a few R packages. Follow these steps:

1. Download R and Install R. R is available from the "Comprehensive R Archive Network" (CRAN): https://cran.cnr.berkeley.edu/. Download the version for your operating system using this link. Install R by double clicking the installer you've downloaded in the previous step and follow the instructions. CRAN is also how you install packages that extend R's functionality (more on this later).

2. Download and install RStudio. RStudio is a program that makes interacting with and developing code in R much easier. Download RStudio Desktop from their website: https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download3/. Double click the RStudio installer and follow the installation instructions.

Open RStudio and try entering:

```{R, eval=FALSE} print("Welcome to EVE102!")

in the window labeled "Console". It should look something like this (but your
exact session will be different):

<img src="images/rstudio.png" style="width: 600px;"/>

3. Next, we need to install a few R packages from CRAN. R packages are
   contributed software that extends the functionality of R. We will first
   install `devtools`, as this allows us to install the `eve102` course package
   from GitHub (GitHub is a website for sharing code and collaboratively
   working on projects). Then, we will load the `devtools` package with the
   `library()` function, and then install the `eve102` package. Note that if
   you are prompted to answer any questions during installation, answer the
   affirmative, i.e. 'y' or yes. Run the following (e.g. copy and paste):

```{R, eval=FALSE}
install.packages('devtools')
library(devtools)
install_github('vsbuffalo/eve102', build_vignettes=TRUE)

vsbuffalo/eve102 documentation built on May 3, 2019, 7:07 p.m.