[R] R vs. RStudio?

[Rick / rrsanbar]

I have four years in the R trenches, and code in R  on the Ubuntu  
command line and the Windows  R GUI.

Here is an RStudio comparative overview:

In the absence of  Rstudio, to construct and debug a script I need:

1) A programmer's editor (such as VIM (bad) or Bluefish (better)), in 
which I enter the script
2) The R GUI / command/console  window to run the script

To test / debug the script: use the source() function to load and execute.
To pause the script: insert browser(); statements at desired stopping points
   (thus adding needles complexity to the code)
To view variable contents: use the message() and sprintf() functions to 
print text

Viewing R help files using the ?() command opens another popup window or 
windows with the help files.
These must be manually closed when not needed.

When using RStudio, I need:

*Only* the RStudio app running - its GUI includes:
   -  A very good color-coded programmer's editor,
   -  The R console, and (when activated), an excellent debug 
information window.,
   - The Debug information window, which displays execution information 
(e.g., variable values),
      once the debugger is activated (see below)

   - The R documentation window, to display help files.

      To step through /  debug the R script: Use RStudio's integrated 
debugger, which takes approximately 5 minutes to learn.
                    for more info: 
https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/200713843-Debugging-with-RStudio?version=0.98.1091&mode=desktop
                    OR within RStudio, select Debug/Debugging Help

The quality and usability of RStudio has markedly improved since the 
early versions: Most beginner-level R programmers can become comfortable
using RStudio in 45 minutes. They will recoup their time investment 
within the first three hours of R development.

Hope this helps,
Rick Reeves
Foxgrove Solutions, Ltd



On 1/10/2015 6:47 PM, John Sorkin wrote:
> I urge you to try it.
> John
>
>
> John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Professor of Medicine
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
>
>
>>>> Bert Gunter <gunter.berton at gene.com> 1/10/2015 9:46 PM >>>
> That is what websites are for. Go to rstudio.com and make your own judgment
> . I have found that they provide much useful functionality above and beyond
> R's bare bones GUI.
>
> Bert
>
> On Saturday, January 10, 2015, Boris Steipe <boris.steipe at utoronto.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> Could someone kindly enlighten me whether there are currently advantages
>> to use R Studio vs. the normal R GUI? On the Mac I can't seem to find
>> anything compelling, on Windows (which I don't use myself) I noticed last
>> year that there seems to be no syntax highlighting available for the R GUI
>> but R Studio had it.
>>
>> Surely there must be some value proposition in that project, what am I
>> missing?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Boris
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org <javascript:;> mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and
>> more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>