Speeding Field Access in R-Classes

Question

I am writing code using R reference classes . However, as I progressed, the program became unbearably slow. To demonstrate the problem, do the following example:

myClass <- setRefClass(
  "Class"="myClass",
  fields=c(
    counter="numeric"
  ),
  methods=list(
    initialize=function () {
      counter <<- 0
    },
    donothing=function () {

    },
    rand=function () {
      return(runif(1))
    },
    increment=function () {
      counter <<- counter + 1
    }
  )
)

mc <- myClass()
system.time(for (it in 1:500000) {
  mc$donothing()
})
system.time(for (it in 1:500000) {
  mc$rand()
})
system.time(for (it in 1:500000) {
  mc$increment()
})

It is required:

• 4s for method calls
• 7s for calls to generate a random number
• 19s to increase the value of the field

This is the last result that causes me problems. I obviously do not expect it to take twice as much to increase a number than to generate a random number. My code includes a lot of access and changing the values ​​of the fields in the reference class, and this performance problem made the program accessible to everyone.

: -, , / R? -, -?

Answer 1

, fields.

fields=c(
    counter="numeric"
),

fields=c("counter")

5 19 . , - , . :

,

, " ", , .