vignettes/short_note_on_literate_programming.Rmd
short_note_on_literate_programming.RmdLiterate programming means you can include prose and code into the same document. In R, files with the extension .Rmd are R Markdown documents. R Markdown includes the power of Markdown to format text, include graphics, citations, etc. and the programming functionality of R (as well as other languages too).
To introduce code into a document we insert a code chunk which encloses a section of the document where code will be run and the output returned.
Code chunks have various parameters which allow the user to control various aspects of the behavior of the code. Let’s use one right now to get ourselves ready for the rest of the session. echo=FALSE turns off the default behavior of showing the code that runs. It will not, however, turn off the output (the results='hide' parameter and attribute will do that).
Note: no code returned in the rendered document!
As you work with the other vignettes which cover other topics in R programming in this package, take a look at the source .Rmd files. Note the behavior of prose and code in this files to get a sense of how things work!
To get a basic overview of literate programming in R the RStudio website has documentation that covers the fundamentals of working with the RMarkdown format for various types of output (web documents, PDF documents, Word documents, etc.). For a more comprehensive resource consult R Markdown: The Definitive Guide.