Dear list, We are pleased to announce the update of the Rmetrics packages. To update a current installation you can use the function 'update.packages()' Or re-install all Rmetrics packages with the small R script available at http://www.rmetrics.org: source("http://www.rmetrics.org/Rmetrics.R") install.Rmetrics() Most of the work has been focused on 'timeSeries', formerly known as 'fSeries', and 'fPortfolio'. The other packages have been updated to be compliant with the new R version 2.9.0. * timeSeries The overall efficiency of 'timeSeries' objects and key functions has been further improved. To give you an idea you can try the following example # timeSeries (2100.83) library(timeSeries) ts <- timeSeries(1:1e6L, 1:1e6L) # one million entries ts ts[c("1970-01-01 01:00:00", "1970-01-01 12:33:00"), ] cbind(ts, ts) rbind(ts, ts) diff(ts) lag(ts) ts + ts Please note that ts[1] returns the first element of the vector ts and ts[1,] does subset the timeSeries object. This speed improvement is possible thanks to a careful implementation of the S4 classes and methods. Note that we are not using additional C routines. Because of the inner changes, we decided to rename the former package 'fSeries' to 'timeSeries'. The old package 'fSeries' is still available on CRAN if you do not want to use the new package. If you have data sets stored in the former 'timeSeries' definition, you can use the function '.old2newTimeSeries()' to convert them to the new format. * fPortfolio A lot of work has been done in 'fPortfolio' to improve its overall ease of use. More specifically, we have added new solvers and new type of constraints. In-depth information regarding the new features and the general use of 'fPortfolio' can be found in the forthcoming eBook "Portfolio Optimization with R/Rmetrics" (expected May 11). As usual feedback, bug reports and suggestions are always welcome. Best Regards, Yohan For the Rmetrics team PS: If you are looking for more information, you can meet us in Chicago at the R/Finance conference or this summer at the Rmetrics Workshop (more information at http://www.rmetrics.org).
PhD student Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich www.ethz.ch