Tip for dealing with objects requiring heavy intermediate calculation: When using objects that require a lot of heavy calculation and intermediate steps to create, I often find it useful to write a chunk of code with the function to create the object, and then a separate chunk of code that gives me the option either to generate and save the object as an rmd file, or load it externally from an rmd file I have already previously saved. This is especially easy to do in R Markdown using the following code-chunk structure.

```{r Create OBJECT}

COMPLICATED.FUNCTION <- function(...) { Do heavy calculations needing lots of memory;
                                        Output OBJECT; }

```
```{r Generate or load OBJECT}

LOAD <- TRUE
SAVE <- TRUE
#NOTE: Set LOAD to TRUE if you want to load saved file
#NOTE: Set LOAD to FALSE if you want to generate the object from scratch
#NOTE: Set SAVE to TRUE if you want to save the object externally

if(LOAD) { 
  OBJECT <- readRDS(file = 'MySavedObject.rds') 
} else {
  OBJECT <- COMPLICATED.FUNCTION(x, y, z)
  if (SAVE) { saveRDS(file = 'MySavedObject.rds', object = OBJECT) } }

```

With this code structure, all I need to do is to change LOAD depending on whether I want to generate the object, or load it directly from an existing saved file. (Of course, I have to generate it and save it the first time, but after this I have the option of loading it.) Setting LOAD <- TRUE bypasses use of my complicated function and avoids all of the heavy computation therein. This method still requires enough memory to store the object of interest, but it saves you from having to calculate it each time you run your code. For objects that require a lot of heavy calculation of intermediate steps (e.g., for calculations involving loops over large arrays) this can save a substantial amount of time and computation.

我在推特上看到了这个，觉得德克的功能太棒了!根据JD Long的回答，为了方便用户阅读，我会这样做:

# improved list of objects
.ls.objects <- function (pos = 1, pattern, order.by,
                        decreasing=FALSE, head=FALSE, n=5) {
    napply <- function(names, fn) sapply(names, function(x)
                                         fn(get(x, pos = pos)))
    names <- ls(pos = pos, pattern = pattern)
    obj.class <- napply(names, function(x) as.character(class(x))[1])
    obj.mode <- napply(names, mode)
    obj.type <- ifelse(is.na(obj.class), obj.mode, obj.class)
    obj.prettysize <- napply(names, function(x) {
                           format(utils::object.size(x), units = "auto") })
    obj.size <- napply(names, object.size)
    obj.dim <- t(napply(names, function(x)
                        as.numeric(dim(x))[1:2]))
    vec <- is.na(obj.dim)[, 1] & (obj.type != "function")
    obj.dim[vec, 1] <- napply(names, length)[vec]
    out <- data.frame(obj.type, obj.size, obj.prettysize, obj.dim)
    names(out) <- c("Type", "Size", "PrettySize", "Length/Rows", "Columns")
    if (!missing(order.by))
        out <- out[order(out[[order.by]], decreasing=decreasing), ]
    if (head)
        out <- head(out, n)
    out
}
    
# shorthand
lsos <- function(..., n=10) {
    .ls.objects(..., order.by="Size", decreasing=TRUE, head=TRUE, n=n)
}

lsos()

结果如下:

                      Type   Size PrettySize Length/Rows Columns
pca.res                 PCA 790128   771.6 Kb          7      NA
DF               data.frame 271040   264.7 Kb        669      50
factor.AgeGender   factanal  12888    12.6 Kb         12      NA
dates            data.frame   9016     8.8 Kb        669       2
sd.                 numeric   3808     3.7 Kb         51      NA
napply             function   2256     2.2 Kb         NA      NA
lsos               function   1944     1.9 Kb         NA      NA
load               loadings   1768     1.7 Kb         12       2
ind.sup             integer    448  448 bytes        102      NA
x                 character     96   96 bytes          1      NA

注:我补充的主要部分是(再次改编自JD的回答):

obj.prettysize <- napply(names, function(x) {
                           print(object.size(x), units = "auto") })

确保在可重复的脚本中记录您的工作。不时地重新打开R，然后source()您的脚本。您将清除不再使用的任何东西，作为一个额外的好处，您将测试您的代码。

这是个好把戏。

另一个建议是尽可能使用内存效率高的对象:例如，使用矩阵而不是data.frame。

这并没有真正解决内存管理问题，但是一个不为人所知的重要函数是memory.limit()。可以使用memory.limit(size=2500)命令增加默认值，这里的大小以MB为单位。正如Dirk提到的，为了真正利用这一点，您需要使用64位。

使用knitr和将脚本放在Rmd块中也可以获得一些好处。

我通常将代码划分为不同的块，并选择将检查点保存到缓存或RDS文件中

在那里，你可以设置一个块被保存到“缓存”，或者你可以决定运行或不运行一个特定的块。这样，在第一次运行时，你只能处理“第一部分”，而在另一次执行时，你只能选择“第二部分”，等等。

例子:

part1
```{r corpus, warning=FALSE, cache=TRUE, message=FALSE, eval=TRUE}
corpusTw <- corpus(twitter)  # build the corpus
```
part2
```{r trigrams, warning=FALSE, cache=TRUE, message=FALSE, eval=FALSE}
dfmTw <- dfm(corpusTw, verbose=TRUE, removeTwitter=TRUE, ngrams=3)
```

作为一个副作用，这也可以让你在可重复性方面省去一些麻烦:)

在将数据框架传递给回归函数的data=参数时，我积极地使用子集参数，只选择所需的变量。如果我忘记向公式和select=向量添加变量，确实会导致一些错误，但由于减少了对象的复制，它仍然节省了大量时间，并显著减少了内存占用。假设我有400万条记录和110个变量(我确实有)。例子:

# library(rms); library(Hmisc) for the cph,and rcs functions
Mayo.PrCr.rbc.mdl <- 
cph(formula = Surv(surv.yr, death) ~ age + Sex + nsmkr + rcs(Mayo, 4) + 
                                     rcs(PrCr.rat, 3) +  rbc.cat * Sex, 
     data = subset(set1HLI,  gdlab2 & HIVfinal == "Negative", 
                           select = c("surv.yr", "death", "PrCr.rat", "Mayo", 
                                      "age", "Sex", "nsmkr", "rbc.cat")
   )            )

通过设置上下文和策略:gdlab2变量是一个逻辑向量，它是为一组实验室测试的所有正常或几乎正常值的数据集中的主题构建的，而HIVfinal是一个字符向量，总结了艾滋病毒的初步和确认测试。