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<p>R is an open source programming language and software environment, commonly used for statistical computing within data heavy roles such as data mining and statistics.</p>
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<p>R has had a resurgence in recent years with a growing number of programmers using its data generation and analysis capabilities within machine learning and other emerging data-dependant technologies.</p>
<p>We discuss why you should learn and use R and how to get skilled up.</p>
<h2>Why should I learn R programming language?</h2>
<p>While R can seem overly complex at the start, for those looking for a programming language with a lot of meat on the bones, R is worth your consideration.</p>
<p>In fact, a number of well-known organisations are taking advantage of R&apos;s impressive statistical features.</p>
<section class="inArticleRelatedList" id="inArticleRelated-6491BBC4-9DE6-470F-A409672B0331C9A6"> </section> <p>Some Facebook employees are using R to analyse user behaviour, while over 500 Google employees are using R to make its advertising more effective, says <a href="http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2013/05/companies-using-open-source-r-in-2013.html">Revolution Analytics</a>.</p>
<p>R uses command-line scripting, which is ideal for storing numerous series of complex data-analysis and recycling that analysis&apos; on similar sets of data.</p>
<p>R is totally free and open source, so unlike its rivals such as SAS or Matlab, R can be customised, cloned and even redistributed.</p>
<p>One of the biggest benefits to open source software is that upgrades to the software are much more regular.</p>
<p>This is extremely advantageous for statistical programming languages and environments.</p>
<p>R is available on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and able to import data from a whole host of programmes including Microsoft Excel, MySQL and Oracle.</p>
<section class="inArticleRelatedList" id="inArticleRelated-128F754A-0C56-4947-ABB06D81B7A432DD"> </section> <p>R really is a data analyst or statistician&apos;s dream - it packs a punch. R is able to handle an incredible amount of data and its two million users can vouch for that.</p>
<p>In fact, one of R&apos;s selling points is that exact community. R&apos;s large and active online community supply a myriad of documentation, tutorials and online query forums.</p>
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<h2>How do I learn R programming language?</h2>
<p>If you&apos;re not 100 percent sure that R is for you, you might want to take an introductory&#xA0;course. Online video courses are very popular and won&apos;t break the bank.&#xA0;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=R&amp;src=ukw">Udemy</a> offers a range of online classes for R and statistical programming languages as a whole. These can start at around &#xA3;10, so why not give it a shot.&#xA0;</p>
<p>Another popular route for those with a background in programming is to just get stuck in.&#xA0;</p>
<p>Just visit<span>&#xA0;</span><strong><a href="http://www.r-project.org/">r-project.org</a></strong>&#xA0;to install and get started.</p>
<p>While you don&apos;t need any additional downloads to begin working with R, it is a good idea to install&#xA0;<a href="http://www.rstudio.com/ide/">RStudio</a>, the&#xA0;<span>free R integrated development environment (IDE).</span></p>
<p><span>This studio includes useful features to make the learning process a little less daunting from&#xA0;syntax highlighting and code auto-completion.&#xA0;</span></p>
<p><span>You&apos;ll be able to take advantage of lots of online tutorials and documentation, including coding shortcuts,<strong> <a href="http://www.rstudio.com/ide/docs/">here</a></strong>.</span></p>
<p><strong>For a full guide on getting started with R, <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/2497143/business-intelligence/business-intelligence-beginner-s-guide-to-r-introduction.html?page=2">see here</a>.</strong></p>
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