> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://weihanglo.gitbook.io/debian-server-for-r-computing/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://weihanglo.gitbook.io/debian-server-for-r-computing/software/software_r.md).

# R

![R](https://www.r-project.org/Rlogo.png)

The R language is widely used among statisticians and data miners for developing statistical software and data analysis. Nowadays, R and Python are both part of a typical data science workflow.

See [Why you should learn R first for data science](http://www.r-bloggers.com/why-you-should-learn-r-first-for-data-science/).\
For downloading latest version of R, adding additional repositories to debian repository list is required.

* For a backport of latest R to Debian 8 (jessie), simply open **/etc/apt/sourece.list**.

  ```bash
  $ sudo vim /etc/apt/source.list
  ```
* Then add following lines into **/etc/apt/sourece.list**.

  ```bash
  deb http://<favourite-cran-mirror>/bin/linux/debian jessie-cran3/
  deb-src http://<favourite-cran-mirror>/bin/linux/debian jessie-cran3/
  ```

  ***NOTE**: You need to substitute* `<favourite-cran-mirror>` *by one of the mirror URLs listed in the* [*mirror list*](http://cran.r-project.org/mirrors.html)*.*\
  *For example:* `deb http://cran.csie.ntu.edu.tw/bin/linux/debian jessie-cran3/`.
* Fetch and import Debian backports archives on CRAN (CRAN Debian archive) with key ID 381BA480.

  ```bash
  $ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key 381BA480
  ```
* Finally, install R.

  ```bash
  $ sudo apt-get update
  $ sudo apt-get install r-base r-base-dev
  ```
* After the installation, execute this command to check the version of R in your server is up-to-date.

  ```bash
  $ R --version
  ```

## Useful R packages

One feature of R is its capabilities to extend through third-party packages. Currently, the [CRAN](https://cran.r-project.org/) package repository features 7749 available packages (2015-01-09). There are also many [Task Views](https://cran.r-project.org/) for R users to browse packages for differenct area of interest.

We will introduce some useful packages here.

[plyr](http://plyr.had.co.nz/)/[dplyr](https://cran.rstudio.com/web/packages/dplyr/vignettes/introduction.html): Fast, consistent tools for data manipulating, both in or out of memory.\
[data.table](https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/wiki): An extension of data.frame for large data.\
[ggplot2](http://ggplot2.org/): A plotting system for R, based on the grammar of graphics. [spatstat](http://spatstat.github.io/): Spatial statistics focusing on spatial point patterns.\
[installr](https://github.com/talgalili/installr): Make updating R (on windows) as easy as running a function.\
[rmarkdown](http://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/): Enable easy creation of dynamic documents, presentations, and reports from R.\
[DBI](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/DBI/README.html): A database interface for communication between R and relational database management systems.