Michael Freeman - Programming Skills for Data Science

In order to write code to work with data, you will need to use a number of different (free) software programs for writing, executing, and managing your code. This chapter details which software you will need and explains how to install those programs. While there are a variety of options for each task, we discuss software programs that are largely supported within the data science community, and whose popularity continues to grow.

It is an unfortunate reality that one of the most frustrating and confusing barriers to working with code is getting your machine properly set up. This chapter aims to provide sufficient information for setting up your machine and troubleshooting the installation process.

In short, you will need to install the following programs, each of which is described in detail in the following sections.

For Writing Code

There are two different programs that we suggest you use for writing code:

• RStudio: An integrated development environment (IDE) for writing and executing R code. This will be your primary work environment for doing data science. You will also need to install the R software so that RStudio will be able to execute your code (discussed later in this section).

• Atom: A lightweight text editor that supports programming in lots of different languages. (Other text editors will also work effectively; some further suggestions are included in this chapter.)

For Managing Code

To manage your code, you will need to install and set up the following programs:

• git: An application used to track changes to your files (namely, your code). This is crucial for maintaining an organized project, and can help facilitate collaboration with other developers. This program is already installed on Macs.

• GitHub: A web service for hosting code online. You dont actually need to install anything (GitHub uses git), but you will need to create a free account on the GitHub website. The corresponding exercises for this book are hosted on GitHub.

For Executing Code

To provide instructions to your machine (i.e., run code), you will need to have an environment in which to provide those instructions, while also ensuring that your machine is able to understand the language in which youre writing your code.

• Bash shell: A command line interface for controlling your computer. This will provide you with a text-based interface you can use to work with your machine. Macs already have a Bash shell program called Terminal, which you can use out of the box. On Windows, installing git will also install an application called Git Bash, which you can use as your Bash shell.

• R: A programming language commonly used for data science. This is the primary programming language used throughout this book. Installing R actually means downloading and installing tools that will let your computer understand and run R code.

The remainder of this chapter has additional information about the purpose of each software system, how to install it, and alternative configurations or options. The programs are described in the order they are introduced in the book (though in many cases, the software programs are used in tandem).