03-what-is-r.Rmd

## What is R!

The R project is a huge open source software collaboration. There is a foundation team of 36 people, and contributions from thousands of people globally. You can learn more about the project by visiting this web site [https://www.r-project.org](https://www.r-project.org).

R is the language of data analysis! It is the top program used for data science today, one of the most powerful tools available, and completely free for anyone to use. 

RStudio IDE (interactive development environment) is a commercial product, but it is _free_ to download and use, and it provides an interface to help us use the R language. You can download RStudio IDE at https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/. 

*If R is an airplane, RStudio is the airport terminal that provides the support.*


The RStudio window has multiple panes.

- *Console*: you can type R commands and see output
- *Help*: find out information about functions and packages. This same panel will have tabs for *showing plots* that you make, *view apps* and documents, show *files* in the folder, and *packages* used. 
- *Environment*: lists the objects that you create, such as data sets.
- *Editor*: for creating scripts to run in pieces or as a whole (like this document!)