modifying argument of a .C call (DUP=FALSE)
Tamas K Papp <tpapp at princeton.edu> writes:
I have a huge matrix on which I need to do a simple (elementwise)
transformation. Two of these matrices cannot fit in the memory, so I cannot
do this in R.
I thought of writing some C code to do this and calling it using .C with
DUP=FALSE. All I need is a simple for loop that replaces elements with
their new value, something like
void transform(double *a, int *lengtha) {
int i;
for (i=0; i < *lengtha; i++) {
*(a+i) = calculatenewvaluesomehow(*(a+i))
}
}
trans <- function(a) .C("transform",as.double(a), as.integer(length(a))
is it possible to do this? The manuals say that it is dangerous, is it
possible to avoid the dangers somehow?
It's more a question of whether the dangers affect you. In general, the issue is that you risk modifying a second (virtual) copy of the data along with the one you intend to modify. If you're sure that you don't have any, the point is moot. It is fairly difficult to be sure of that in the general case, which is why we generally discourage DUP=FALSE, especially for package writers, but for personal use you might just get away with it.
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