[Rd] beginner's guide to C++ programming with R packages?

[Paul Johnson]

Hello, again.

I'm interested to learn how programmers develop & test C/C++ code with
R packages in Linux.  I've been reading R source and the manual on
Writing R Extensions but there are just a couple of details I can't
understand.  I wish I could watch over a developer's shoulder to see
how people actually do this.

I've tested a bit.  I am able to take package.tar.gz file, open it up,
fiddle the source code, and then run

R CMD check package-dir

from the directory above "package-dir" ,

R CMD build package-dir

and

R CMD INSTALL

on the tarball that is produced. Then in R, I can load the package and use it.

That part is "all good", but somewhat tedious.  I don't want to
entirely recompile and reinstall the whole package just to test one
function.  I notice that R CMD check creates a new directory called
"package.Rcheck" and the shared objects and example code of the
package are in there.  Can I force R to use those *.so files instead
of the ones in /usr/lib/R ?


I also wonder "what is wrong with gprof?   In the Writing R Extensions
manual, it describes "oprofile" and "sprof" for Linux. I will try
them, but they are unfamilar to me.  I've used gprof in the past in C
projects, and it is a pretty painless thing to add a compiler flag
-pg, run the program, and then review gmon.out.  The Writing R
Extensions manual does not mention gprof in its section on Linux, but
it does mention it under Solaris.  There is a somewhat ambiguous
statement:

3.4.2 Solaris

On 64-bit (only) Solaris, the standard profiling tool gprof collects
information from shared libraries compiled with -pg.

Does "(only)" here mean to differentiate Solaris from other Linux/Unix
systems?  Or does it differentiate 64bit Solaris from other Solaris?

But this draws me back to the basic question.  I don't want to run R
CMD INSTALL 20 times per hour.  How do developers "actually" test
their code?

pj
-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas