A method for deriving information from running R code

Mark P. J. van der Loo

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arXiv · 2002.07472

A method for deriving information from running R code

Mark P. J. van der Loo

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Abstract

It is often useful to tap information from a running R script. Obvious use cases include monitoring the consumption of resources (time, memory) and logging. Perhaps less obvious cases include tracking changes in R objects orcollecting output of unit tests. In this paper we demonstrate an approach that abstracts collection and processing of such secondary information from the running R script. Our approach is based on a combination of three elements. The first element is to build a customized way to evaluate code. The second is labeled \emph{local masking} and it involves temporarily masking auser-facing function so an alternative version of it is called. The third element we label \emph{local side effect}. This refers to the fact that the masking function exports information to the secondary information flow without altering a global state. The result is a method for building systems in pure R that lets users create and control secondary flows of information with minimal impact on their workflow, and no global side effects.

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Mark P. J. van der Loo. 2020-02-18. A method for deriving information from running R code. https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.07472

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