Introduction to Bayesian statistics using BUGS – Software download

The course practicals can be completed in point-and-click OpenBUGS or WinBUGS, or alternatively in JAGS/OpenBUGS/WinBUGS via R.

If you will be bringing a laptop to the course, and you already know which of JAGS/OpenBUGS/WinBUGS would you prefer to use, it would save time if you could download the course files (see below) and install the appropriate software before the course. Instructions for installation are below, but please do not worry if there are any problems installing the software as there will be an opportunity for installation during the course.

Course files

There are two versions of the download: one for point-and-click WinBUGS and OpenBUGS; and one for using WinBUGS/OpenBUGS/JAGS from R. Choose the download corresponding to the version you want to use.

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OpenBUGS

OpenBUGS can be downloaded from the OpenBUGS website for free [or download the OpenBUGS 3.2.3 exe from our mirror]. Instructions for installation can be found on the same webpage. Point-and-click OpenBUGS runs only on Windows, but it can be run from R on Linux too.

If you would like to run OpenBUGS from R, you will need to install both the main OpenBUGS application and the R packages “R2OpenBUGS” and “denstrip”. The R packages can be installed from within R by running

install.packages(c("R2OpenBUGS", "denstrip"))

JAGS

JAGS can be downloaded from the JAGS website for free. Instructions for installation can be found on the same webpage. JAGS runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

As well as the main JAGS application, you will also need to install the rjags and denstrip packages in R. These can be installed from within R by running

install.packages(c("rjags", "denstrip"))

WinBUGS

WinBUGS can be downloaded from the WinBUGS website for free. WinBUGS runs only on Windows.

Please remember to download and install the key (to allow unrestricted use of WinBUGS) and the patch to upgrade to the latest version of WinBUGS (version 1.4.3). Instructions for installation can be found on the same webpage.

If you would like to run WinBUGS from R, you will need to install both the main WinBUGS application and the R packages “R2WinBUGS” and “denstrip”. The R packages can be installed from within R by running

install.packages(c("R2WinBUGS", "denstrip"))