1.3 Alternatives to RStudio

RStudio is not the only way to access R. The standard R installation from CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network) provides a basic R graphical user interface called the R console. This provides access to the key R functionality and provides interfaces for the preparation of R scripts. The simplest way to access R is perhaps through the command line. With a typical R installation simply typing "R" at the console should load an R session which you can directly interact with, as seen in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: R installations typically include a basic R editor and console that provide a basic framework for interacting with the software, preparing R scripts and for the installation and management of packages. This figure shows the R console as installed by default on a Mac computer.