Tools Introduction

Author

Andreas Handel

Modified

2025-12-31

Introduction

This unit provides a brief introduction to the various course tools. The main materials to get started with these tools is found on a separate website, as described below.

Learning Objectives

The specific learning objectives for this unit are:

  • Know what tools we are using in this course.
  • Know where to learn about these tools.

Course Tools

Every data analysis project requires a set of tools to get the job done. In this course, we will be using a variety of tools to help us perform data analyses in a modern, reproducible way.

Since the use of these tools is an important part of the course, it is essential that you get familiar with them early on. The first assignment this week will ask you to use a good number of these tools.

Main Tools

  • We will use the R software for coding.
  • We will use the Positron integrated development environment (IDE) to write our code and generally manage our projects. You can use a different editor/IDE if you want (e.g. RStudio or VS Code or Emacs), but the instructions assume you are using Positron.
  • We will use Quarto, to create output in an efficient, easy and automated manner.
  • We will use Git and GitHub for exercises and the project.
  • You are strongly encouraged to use AI tools to help you with your work in this course.

Also Used Tools

  • This website is the main resource for all materials.
  • We will use Discord for discussions and help.
  • We will use an online system for quizzes.

Important notes

Over the years that I’ve been teaching the course, the tools used in the course changed. Noticable changes are the following:

  • The company now called Posit was formerly called R Studio. You will likely see the old label show up here and there.
  • The software editor we used in the past for writing R code is called R Studio. R Studio still exists, but a lot of new development effort is going into Posit’s new editor Positron. This is the first year I’m switching to Positron for the class. Mentions of R Studio might still happen here and there.
  • Quarto is also fairly new, in the past we used R Markdown instead. Again, you might come across references to R Markdown in the course materials or online. Quarto and R Markdown share many similarities. Quarto is basically a newer/better/expanded version of R Markdown. R Markdown still works, but Quarto is more powerful, so it’s the better option to use/learn it.
  • In the past, I used a tool for Git/GitHub called GitKraken. I decided that it’s not worth using another tool, so now I’m focusing on GitHub Desktop and the built-in GitHub support of Positron. Again, there might be some GitKraken references in the materials, and you can certainly check it out if you want.

Learning the tools

Since the tools change over time, I decided to have a separate location with small courses/tutorials on how to use the tools we use in this course.

The website that contains these tutorials/mini-courses is currently called Modeling and Data Science Tools.

As preparation for MADA and the first assignment, go through the tutorials/mini-courses on th MDS Tools website. The Portfolio tutorial will be your first exercise.