1.1 Software setup

• Download the latest version of R here. This textbook is written using version 4.1.1. If you have an earlier version already installed on your computer, you should upgrade. If you have a newer version available to you for download, you are likely able to use a newer version and still use this curriculum.
• Download RStudio here.
• Create a GitHub account here. When you publish your own code and Markdown reports, you’ll be doing it on your own GitHub account.
• Download GitHub Desktop here. This is my recommended way to “push” and “pull” code from your “cloud”, which is your GitHub account.

For those enrolled in the Stanford course:

• Make sure you’re set up fully on Slack. The #r-support channel is shared with the entire Stanford community and is the best place to ask for help on general or eccentric R problems you can’t seem to find a solution to when Googling. For questions specific to this course material, you will be invited to specific channels for each chapter/assignment. Note that in a Slack message you can insert code using the “Code” or “Code block” options, which are always preferable to just pasting code directly into your message. Otherwise, if your code is on GitHub, we’d recommend sharing a URL that links to the direct line of code you’re referring to, like https://github.com/stanfordfuturebay/stanfordfuturebay.github.io/blob/master/covid19/SafeGraph_normalization_function.R#L47.
• Download Cisco VPN here. For certain R applications you might find it useful to connect to the Stanford VPN.