When doing more complicated calculations you should always use a script file (with the extension .R). This works in the same way as an .m-file in Matlab. In order to keep track of all related files (scripts, data, plots, results, etc) you should use RStudio projects. You can have several projects at the same time, all of them with their own working directory, history, etc.

Create a project

A project can be created in a new directory, in an existing directory or by cloning a version control repository.

Create a project for the compulsory labs in a new directory by File -- New Project.... Then choose New Directory:

Then, as Project Type, choose New Project:

Browse to where you want to create your new directory and provide a suitable name for it:

Press Create Project.

You should now have a new directory with two files:

The project file computerlabs.Rproj contains the project options and can be used as a shortcut for opening the project.

The hidden directory .Rproj.user contains temporary files and you can just ignore it (but don't delete it!).

It might be a good idea to add some sub-directories so you can organise your files when working with a large project. All paths within the project are relative to the project directory.

Working with projects

Opening a project

You can open a project in different ways

From withing RStudio: File -- Open Project and browsing to the .Rproj-file:

or double-clicking on the .Rproj-file.

Using script files

You can use several script files in an RStudio project. For the computer labs, it might be a good idea to have one script file for each of the three labs. For the three course projects (Linear regression, Logistic regression and Other regression), you might want to create separate RStudio projects. Alternatively, you can use a different subdirectory for each course project, in the same RStudio project.

Create a new script file.
Add a comment, starting with #, at the beginning stating what the script does.
Save the file somewhere in your RStudio project directory using File -- Save As...

Continue writing your syntax in this file, saving often! Add comments so that you can remember what it is your code is supposed to do, later.
Run the commands from the syntax file by pressing Ctrl-Return on each line.

When you are done, close RStudio (q() means Quit). If you are using our computers, you should copy the entire project folder and its contents to a USB stick, or similar, so that you can continue working on some other computer.

The next time, you can start RStudio by opening your .Rproj-file. It will remember which script files you had open.