RStudio

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RStudio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the R programming language, used for statistics and graphics. It helps you write code, run analyses, and create reports all in one place.

Two ways to use it
- RStudio Desktop: a regular desktop app you install on Windows, macOS, or Linux.
- RStudio Server: runs on a remote server and you access it through a web browser.

Who makes it
- Posit PBC (formerly RStudio PBC and RStudio Inc.). In 2022 the company changed its name to Posit to reflect support for other languages beyond R, like Python.

Open source and licensing
- RStudio is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL v3). Both free and paid editions are available.

Key features
- Reproducible analyses with R Markdown: mix text, code, and results in one document. R Markdown can produce HTML, PDF, Word, or LaTeX reports.
- Quarto: a newer publishing system (introduced in 2022) that works with Python, Julia, and other languages. Quarto documents use .qmd files and have a different way of setting code chunk options.
- Addins: the IDE lets you run R functions interactively and create simple GUIs for packages.

Languages and workflows
- The core is built around R, but you can include Python, Julia, SQL, JavaScript, and more in your stories and reports through R Markdown and Quarto.

Technical notes (short)
- The IDE is written mainly in Java, C++, and JavaScript. The user interface now uses the Electron framework.
- It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Server versions run on various Linux distributions.

A brief history
- Development began around 2010, with the first public beta in 2011.
- Major releases followed in 2016 (1.0) and 2017 (1.1).
- The project is now developed by Posit.