R is a programming language for statistical computing and data visualization. It has been adopted in the fields of data mining, bioinformatics, and data analysis.[9]

The core R language is augmented by a large number of extension packages, containing reusable code, documentation, and sample data.

R software is open-source and free software. It is licensed by the GNU Project and available under the GNU General Public License.[3] It is written primarily in C, Fortran, and R itself. Precompiled executables are provided for various operating systems.