R is one of the most widely used programming languages around the world. By the way, do you know, how to learn r programming? or How to Start Programming in R?
Whether it is an IT company or a financial institution, each and every industry is using R programming language for data analysis, statistical modeling, and visualization.
The job opportunities and salary of the R programmers or data analysts are almost touching the sky. But why is that? What is the reason that makes R so popular? Let’s start from the beginning.
What is exactly R?
R is a programming language as well as a free software environment that is used for computational statistics and graphics. The definition of R that is available on the official homepage of the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) says,
“R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics.”
Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman started developing this programming language in 1992 at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Since then programmers have been developing the R programming language. The latest R version 4.3.3 was released in February 2024.
The R Foundation is the non-profit establishment that provides all the support to the R Project and the R Development community. They hold the copyright of the R software and organization.
The installation of R is completely free. Besides, all the additional packages are available at the open-source to use for anyone doing reproducible research.
CRAN, Bioconductor, and other open sources of R have more than 15,000 additional packages to offer. These user-created packages extend the capabilities of R.
This sharable, open-source feature makes R more than just a programming language, makes it a free software environment. Data analysis, statistical modeling, and visualization with R become easier with numerous available packages.
Check out the best r certification online to learn all you need to know to become an expert in R programming. Learn the best r programming examples with these online courses.
Why should you learn R?
R is becoming the standard software in the market where is a more expensive option available. This free platform is becoming more popular among developers and the international industries. So the reasons for learning R are numerous.
Free of cost-
R is free for everyone. It is absolutely open to download, install, use, and update without any cost. You can even clone and modify it without any charge.
You can find all the latest installation for R at the R Project. All the additional packages are available in CRAN for free. If you can use a high-quality programming language with open source to use for no cost, then why not?
Competent-
R is a powerful programming language. To program complex simulations, R works wonderfully than most other programming languages. To manage large computer clusters R can be used for thousands of processors all at the same time. It distributes individual tasks through multiple processors.
With thousands of packages to download from CRAN for free, R can perform various data science and data analysis smoothly.
The flexibility of R makes it possible to use it in any complex statistical practice. You can use R to build amazing interactive charts or HTML slideshows.
To build any web application or adaptive tests, the R programming language provides enough tools to use. The absolutely free additional packages provide all the support to use R. It works much better than many other paid programming languages.
Widely used-
Almost all the industries in the whole world use the R programming language for several things. The popularity of R is at arising because of its multifunctional features. Top-level companies use R for complex problems. For example, Google uses the R programming language for advertising effectiveness and economic forecasting.
Facebook uses it for behavior analysis through status uploads and profile pictures. IT companies, like HCL Technologies, HP, IBM, use multiple free packages of R for several purposes. Microsoft itself has obtained Revolution R Company for its own sake.
A number of analytic, consulting companies and financial institutes are using the R programming language and the open-source environment for numerous purposes. So the demand for a well-learned R programmer is constantly increasing.
Opportunities-
A skilled R operator can become a programmer, data scientist, data analyst, and others. The average salary of an R programmer moves around $69,000 per year.
A data analyst in this sector earns almost $130,000 per year.
Even if you are a new bee with R programming, you can do freelancing or part-time jobs. There is a lot of job opening that requires R programming language skills.
The number of packages offered with R is growing at a high rate.
As the packages are user-developed which means that the user of R is also growing at a high pace. So it is time for you to catch up with the well paid, popular programming skill.
Assistance-
One of the best features of R is that it has a well-supported platform. It has a paid helpline to answer any question regarding R within a few hours. As R is getting constantly updated, this helpline can help you to understand the new features of R.
Other than the helpline, R-Bloggers is a platform where you can find all the answers to your questions. Enthusiastic R programmers write about R programming and all the other sectors related to R.
It is a very resourceful space to visit. If you get stuck in the learning process, you can easily get the help you need.
How to Start Programming in R?
If you are thinking of learning R, that means you have already taken the first step towards it. There are a lot of resources to get help from.
The best way to learn anything is by doing it. We have enlisted the best r programming tutorial to get the most out of it. So to start learning R the first step is to download and install it.
You can download a copy of R from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) for free. It is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. The base packages of R get installed automatically with the downloaded copy. After installation, you can use now roam around and try to discover R by yourself.
Then, to work with an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), you need to download R Studio. It supports debugging, workspace management, plotting, and many other commands. The R packages drive the growth of R.
You need to install packages before using it. Except for the base packages, more than 10,000 additional packages are available in CRAN to download. You can also find some other packages on Bioconductor, GitHub, or bitbucket that provides R packages from R developers.
Next, as a complete beginner, you can find free tutorials and web pages available on the internet. To understand data transformation, data visualization, and data analysis, you can purchase tutorials and courses and have a solid grip over the foundation of R.
After that, when you will have a better understanding of the basics of R, you can move into the deeper levels of the platform. You can learn about the more advanced resources.
R-Blogger, Revolution Analytics, and Flowing Data have excellent materials available to take you to the next level of R.
Lastly, if you really want to be an expert in R, you need to practice it every day. Start with simple data visualization, data manipulation, or data analysis. Once you get the addiction to R with the basic tools, you can gradually get into more complex applications for real-world problems
After becoming a fluent R programmer you might want to write an R package like most other experts. It can be your goal for the future as an expert R programmer.
R programming language and the environment have a trusted reputation to the programmers. The data-driven economy of the world uses R for its multi-operational features.
If you learn the R programming language, you will be one step ahead in the crazy industry of data manipulation and visualization. So, we hope that now you know how to learn r programming and how learning R add benefits to your career.
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Jamil Ahmed, CEO of Reinforce Lab. Pharmacist, with experience in numerous fields in Pharmaceutical Companies and also worked in several pharmaceutical companies for over 5 years in International Business.
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