Set up R Development Tools

Components

A complete programming and development environment requires the installation of

R system,
C/C++ compilers,
TeX and friends.

Compilers

Compilers are freely available for Windows and Macs; see the FAQs for windows and Macs on CRAN. Be sure to use the toolchains provided on CRAN rather than something on the net.

MacOS requires installation of Xcode along with the command line tools via xcode --select.
Windows requires the installation of the RTools package provided by CRAN. On Windows, it is important to ensure that paths are set up correctly; so make sure you accept the defaults suggested by RTools.

MacOS Details

Dowload and install Xcode from the Mac App store.
Open a terminal and type xcode --select to install command line tools.

Windows Details

Download and install Rtools, ensuring you select the option to modify paths.
Include the path to the R binary in the Rtools installation. Otherwise, your installation won’t find the compilers.

TeX

For Macs, use MacTeX.
For Windows, either use MikTeX or TeXlive.

This R Studio Page has some useful info on pre-requisites.

Pandoc

Pandoc converts documents marked up in one format into another. It is no exaggeration to say that it has markedly made life better for all of us, like TeX did.

MacOS

Install pandoc using the Mac Installer.

Windows

Install pandoc using the Windows Installer.