On Wed, 2011-03-09 at 17:15 -0900, Zepu Zhang wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I have the following scenario:
>
> f1 <- function(a)
> {
> .... # doing things; may need 'a', but does not change 'a'.
>
> g <- function(x)
> {
> sum(x + a) # Say. Use 'a'; does not change 'a'.
The expression 'x + a' causes 'a' to be duplicated; 'x' is added to each
element of the duplicated vector, then returned. The sum occurs
afterward. To avoid this use an expression like: 'length(a) * x +
sum(a)'. Also, please see this recent thread regarding the
pass-by-value / pass-by-reference issue:
http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/e13/help/11/03/6632.html
> }
>
> optimize(f = g, lower = 0, upper = 1)
> }
>
>
> f2 <- function()
> {
> b <- runif(100000000000) # Create big object.
>
> f1(a = b)
> }
>
>
> My main concern is to reduce copying of the big object 'a'. Questions:
>
> (1) In f1, 'a' never appears on the LHS of assignment. Is it passed by value
> or by reference? Say the situation is simpler and more general: no
> optimization call in f1.
'a' is passed by value, but not necessarily copied in memory.
> (2) Is there any difference, as far as copying of the big 'a' is concerned,
> if 'g' is changed to
> g <- function(x, b) { sum(x + b) }
> and called by
> optimize(f = g, lower = 0, upper = 1, b = a)
No.
> (3) Is 'a' passed into the C optimization function one-off, or again and
> again across the C-R interface?
I don't think either is completely correct. But more to your point, 'a'
is not necessarily copied repeatedly. If you make the substitution I
suggested above for 'g', then 'a' is not repeatedly copied.
> (4) Does it help if I remove the argument 'a' of 'f1', and let 'g' look for
> it (of course it should be referred to as 'b' now) directly in the
> environment of 'f2'?
No. 'g' would then search and find 'a' farther down the environment
tree.
> (5) Any suggestions?
Avoid operations that necessitate a copy. Compile R with
--enable-memory-profiling and use the tracemem function to help in this.
> Many thanks for your help!
>
> Zepu
>
> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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