One of the reasons why R is so popular is that it inferaces seamlessly with other languages. R is very good at rapid prototyping. This quality comes at a price of reduced performance. For applications where performance is important, the parts that are critical with respect to resource usage can be out-sourced to other languages such as C++.

Interfaces

The process of out-sourcing parts of a program to a different language works only, if there are good interfaces. One example of a very good interface between R and C++ is the package Rcpp which consists of a whole set of application specific sub-interfaces.

IDE

Outsourcing parts of a programm to a different language also means to develop in different languages. Different tools have been developed for developing in different languages. There are a number of different tools - so called Integrated Development Environments (IDE) which can be used for developing programs in different languages.

One such IDE is RStudio which has gained a lot of popularity in the R community. The following post looks at how easily RStudio can be used to develop in R and in C++. Please continue reading here