Welcome to an Open Research LJMU Workshop!

Welcome to What is Git/Github, and how do I use it with R?! To ensure a smooth experience during our session, after the ‘What is Git’ information section, please have a look at the following instructions, starting with a check whether Git is already installed on your computer.

Minimum Requirement: All participants should have RStudio installed. If you don’t have RStudio, please install it first from posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/ or from the Company Portal/App Player (at LJMU managed computers, you have either Company Portal or App PLayer (older) available; RStudio, but also Git Standalone should be on there).

1. What is Git/Github and why to use it as a researcher

What are Git, Github? What’s the workflow? Why would it benefit researchers and supervisors who aren’t software developers or data analysts?

2. Minimal setup with Github Desktop

Minimal local version control, using the local app ‘Github Desktop’. No direct integration with RStudio.

3. Complete setup with integration of RStudio and Github

Full setup, including version control with Git and seamless integration with GitHub for collaborative projects and advanced data science workflows. This is ideal if you plan to continue using a combination of RStudio and Git beyond this workshop.

4. More involved setups

Where to look if you want robust, standalone, and highly reproducible solutions that also work with Git version control to some extent: Nix vs. Docker.

Nix is similar to Anaconda that was used by a previous presenter in this workshop series. Installation and general usage seem to be a little complicated.

Docker is more user friendly and good for containerization (it’s the industry standard), but not the best for day-to-day smooth workflow due to large file sizes and time needed to build docker images.

Questions or Issues? If you encounter any problems during setup, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

eMail: f.zajitschek@ljmu.ac.uk
Website: felix.zajitschek.net
Bluesky: @zajitschek.bsky.social
X: @zajitschek