Prelude
What to do before you come to the Pre-Conference Workshop
Everything on this page is designed to be done on your own laptop, before the workshop.
Install R, RStudio and Quarto, and run the setup check. If your laptop is not ready on the morning of workshop, you will miss out on many concepts and will spend most of your time playing catch-up! So, ensure you do this before you come for the workshop.
Checklist
| Task | Time | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Install R, RStudio, Quarto | 30 min | Install the software |
| ☐ | Install workshop packages and run the check script | 15 min | Check your setup |
| ☐ | Run the five interactive primers in your browser | 45 min | Primer 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| ☐ | Take the five Check yourself quizzes, one per primer | 15 min | Moodle Course |
| ☐ | Skim the reference card | 10 min | R primer |
| ☐ | Go through the pre-reading | 20 min | Pre-reading |
| ☐ | Upload your setup-check output, so we know your laptop is ready | 2 min | Moodle Course |
| ☐ | Complete the online pre-test | 10 min | Moodle Course |
The five primers run R inside your browser. Nothing to install, so you can start them today, even if R is still downloading.
The Moodle Course holds the five check quizzes, the pre-test and a help-desk forum. The quizzes carry no marks and allow unlimited attempts.
What to bring
- A laptop in good working condition. Windows, macOS and Linux are all fine. Preferably 16 GB RAM.
- A charger. Power outlets are limited; arrive fully-charged.
- The toolsets installed. R, RStudio and Quarto.
What you do not need
- Prior programming experience of any kind.
- Statistics beyond what you already use in your own research.
- A paid licence for anything. Every tool in this workshop is free and open source.
Why a prelude to the workshop
Two days is a short time. Installation problems, “what is a working directory?”, and “why does my file not open?” can eat most of the time we have.
Doing the prelude buys us the time to spend on the more important concepts rather than troubleshooting.
Work through Troubleshooting first. It covers the errors that account for most installation failures. If that does not help, email us (a) your operating system and version, (b) the exact error message, and (c) the output of sessionInfo().