currr

Overview

A long journey is best broken into small steps, and the importance of taking a rest must never be underestimated.

The currr package is a wrapper for the purrr::map() family but extends the iteration process with a certain number of checkpoints (currr = checkpoints + purrr), where the evaluated results are saved, and we can always restart from there.

Implementations of the family of map() functions with a frequent saving of the intermediate results. The contained functions let you start the evaluation of the iterations where you stopped (reading the already evaluated ones from the cache), and work with the currently evaluated iterations while the remaining ones are running in a background job. Parallel computing is also easier with the workers parameter.

Installation

install.packages("currr")

Usage

The following example uses currr to present an everyday issue: run a time-demanding iteration, but you want to rerun it again.

library(tidyverse)
library(currr)

options(currr.folder = ".currr", currr.wait = Inf)
# folder in your wd, where to save cache data

avg_n <- function(.data, .col, x) {
  # meaningless function that takes about 1 sec
  Sys.sleep(1)
  
  .data |>
    dplyr::pull({{ .col }}) |>
    (\(m) mean(m) * x) ()
}

Checkpoints

tictoc::tic(msg = "First evaluation")

cp_map(.x = 1:50, .f = avg_n, .data = iris, 
       .col = Sepal.Length, 
       name = "iris_mean") |> 
  head(3)
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 5.843333
#> 
#> [[2]]
#> [1] 11.68667
#> 
#> [[3]]
#> [1] 17.53

tictoc::toc() # ~ 1:50 => 50 x 1 sec
#> First evaluation: 50.351 sec elapsed



tictoc::tic(msg = "Second evaluation")

cp_map(.x = 1:50, .f = avg_n, .data = iris, 
       .col = Sepal.Length, 
       name = "iris_mean") |> 
  head(3)
#> ✓ Everything is unchanged. Reading cache.
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 5.843333
#> 
#> [[2]]
#> [1] 11.68667
#> 
#> [[3]]
#> [1] 17.53

tictoc::toc() # ~ 0 sec
#> Second evaluation: 0.034 sec elapsed

If the .x input and .f are the same, then the 2nd time you call the function, it reads the outcome from the specified folder (.currr). Also if .x changes, but some of its part remain the same, then that part is taken from the previously saved results, and only the new elements of .x are called for evaluation. (If .f changes, then the process will start from zero.)

tictoc::tic(msg = "Partly modification")

cp_map(.x = 20:60, .f = avg_n, .data = iris, 
       .col = Sepal.Length, 
       name = "iris_mean") |> 
  head(3)
#> ⚠ .x has changed. Looking for mathcing result to save them as cache
#> ◌ Cache updated based on the new .x values
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 116.8667
#> 
#> [[2]]
#> [1] 122.71
#> 
#> [[3]]
#> [1] 128.5533

tictoc::toc() # ~ 50:60 => 10 x 1 sec
#> Partly modification: 10.378 sec elapsed

You can remove the cache files, if you want to reset the process (or remove the already unnecessary files from your folder).

# only cache files for iris_mean
remove_currr_cache("iris_mean")

# all cache files
remove_currr_cache()

Parallel process

You can also use multicore process (built on the parallel package). After evaluation, the computation will automatically reset to sequential.

options(currr.workers = 5) # <

tictoc::tic(msg = "Parallel computation")

cp_map(.x = 1:50, .f = avg_n, .data = iris, 
       .col = Sepal.Length, 
       name = "iris_mean") |> 
  head(3)
#> [[1]]
#> [1] 5.843333
#> 
#> [[2]]
#> [1] 11.68667
#> 
#> [[3]]
#> [1] 17.53

tictoc::toc() # ~ 50 / 5 => 10 sec
#> Parallel computation: 21.159 sec elapsed

Background process

This is another functionality that makes currr to be cool. Working in RStudio you can set the wait parameter to 0-1/1+, define how many iterations you want to wait, and then let R work on the remaining iterations in the background, while you can work with the evaluated ones. If wait < 1, then it is interpreted as what proportion of the iterations you want to wait. Whenever you recall the function, it will return the already evaluated ones (use the fill parameter to specify whether you want to get NULLs to the pending ones.)

options(currr.wait = 20, currr.fill = FALSE)

In the example above, you get your results, when 20 iterations are evaluated, but the job in the background keeps running.