Preparation before the course starts

It’s important to spend some time before the first class installing the required software and familiarizing yourself with R and RStudio.

Essential setup before the first class

1) Install R and RStudio

Throughout the course, we will use R — a powerful, open-source toolbox for handling and analyzing large datasets. One of R’s greatest strengths is its active community, which continuously develops and shares new packages to extend its functionality.

Setup that can be done in the first week of the course

2) Get premium access to Datacamp

Some tutorials in this course use Datacamp content.

3) Install a code editor

A good editor will make your work much easier.

4) Create a GitHub account and install Git

Git is a version control tool — think of it as a combination of Dropbox (for unlimited, free rollbacks to previous file versions) and a messaging platform (to collaborate with team members).

Tip: Choose a professional GitHub username

Select a username you can also use in your professional profile (e.g., firstname.lastname). You will likely share your GitHub profile when applying for jobs.

5) Install make

We will use Make to automate workflows — not to compile software, but to manage and reproduce the different steps in your data pipelines (e.g., preparing and analyzing data).

Follow useful tutorials

On top of just installing software, we recommend following a few tutorials – particularly if you’re starting out with coding or feel uncomfortable using the terminal/command line.