[R] detecting if a variable has changed

(Ted Harding) Ted.Harding at wlandres.net
Sun Jun 5 20:01:14 CEST 2016


Surely it is straightforward, since the vector (say 'X') is already sorted?

Example (raw code with explicit example):

set.seed(54321)
X <- sort(runif(10))
# X ## The initial sorted vector
# [1] 0.04941009 0.17669234 0.20913493 0.21651016 0.27439354
# [6] 0.34161241 0.37165878 0.42900782 0.49843042 0.86636110

y <- runif(1)
# y ## The new value to be inserted
[1] 0.1366424

Y <- c(X[X<=y],y,X[X>y]) ## Now insert y into X:
Y
[1] 0.04941009 0.13664239 0.17669234 0.20913493 0.21651016 0.27439354
[7] 0.34161241 0.37165878 0.42900782 0.49843042 0.86636110

## And there it is at Y[2]

Easy to make such a function!
Best wishes to all,
Ted.

On 05-Jun-2016 17:44:29 Neal H. Walfield wrote:
> On Sun, 05 Jun 2016 19:34:38 +0200,
> Bert Gunter wrote:
>> This help thread suggested a question to me:
>> 
>> Is there a function in some package that efficiently (I.e. O(log(n)) )
>> inserts a single new element into the correct location in an
>> already-sorted vector? My assumption here is that doing it via sort()
>> is inefficient, but maybe that is incorrect. Please correct me if so.
> 
> I think data.table will do this if the the column is marked
> appropriately.
> 
>> I realize that it would be straightforward to write such a function,
>> but I just wondered if it already exists. My google & rseek searches
>> did not succeed, but maybe I used the wrong keywords.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Bert
>> 
>> 
>> Bert Gunter
>> 
>> "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along
>> and sticking things into it."
>> -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip )
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 9:47 AM, William Dunlap via R-help
>> <r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
>> > I don't know what you mean by "without having to use any special
>> > interfaces", but "reference classes" will do what I think you want.  E.g.,
>> > the following makes a class called 'SortedNumeric' that only sorts the
>> > vector when you want to get its value, not when you append values.  It
>> > stores the sorted vector so it does not get resorted each time you ask for
>> > it.
>> >
>> > SortedNumeric <- setRefClass("sortedNumeric",
>> >             fields = list(
>> >                 fData = "numeric",
>> >                 fIsUnsorted = "logical"),
>> >             methods = list(
>> >                 initialize = function(Data = numeric(), isUnsorted = TRUE)
>> >                 {
>> >                     fData <<- Data
>> >                     stopifnot(is.logical(isUnsorted),
>> >                               length(isUnsorted)==1,
>> >                               !is.na(isUnsorted))
>> >                     fIsUnsorted <<- isUnsorted
>> >                 },
>> >                 getData = function() {
>> >                     if (isUnsorted) {
>> >                         fData <<- sort(fData)
>> >                         fIsUnsorted <<- FALSE
>> >                     }
>> >                     fData
>> >                 },
>> >                 appendData = function(newEntries) {
>> >                     fData <<- c(fData, newEntries)
>> >                     fIsUnsorted <<- TRUE
>> >                 }
>> >             ))
>> >
>> > Use it as:
>> >
>> >> x <- SortedNumeric$new()
>> >> x$appendData(c(4,2,5))
>> >> x$appendData(c(1,8,9))
>> >> x
>> > Reference class object of class "sortedNumeric"
>> > Field "fData":
>> > [1] 4 2 5 1 8 9
>> > Field "fIsUnsorted":
>> > [1] TRUE
>> >> x$getData()
>> > [1] 1 2 4 5 8 9
>> >> x
>> > Reference class object of class "sortedNumeric"
>> > Field "fData":
>> > [1] 1 2 4 5 8 9
>> > Field "fIsUnsorted":
>> > [1] FALSE
>> >
>> >
>> > Outside of base R, I think the R6 package gives another approach to this.
>> >
>> >
>> > Bill Dunlap
>> > TIBCO Software
>> > wdunlap tibco.com
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 6:53 AM, Neal H. Walfield <neal at walfield.org>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> I have a huge list.  Normally it is sorted, but I want to be able to
>> >> add elements to it without having to use any special interfaces and
>> >> then sort it on demand.  My idea is to use something like weak
>> >> references combined with attributes.  Consider:
>> >>
>> >>   # Initialization.
>> >>   l = as.list(1:10)
>> >>   # Note that it is sorted.
>> >>   attr(l, 'sorted') = weakref(l)
>> >>
>> >>   # Modify the list.
>> >>   l = append(l, 1:3)
>> >>
>> >>   # Check if the list is still sorted.  (I use identical here, but it
>> >>   # probably too heavy weight: I just need to compare the addresses.)
>> >>   if (! identical(l, attr(l, 'sorted'))) {
>> >>     l = sort(unlist(l))
>> >>     attr(l, 'sorted') = weakref(l)
>> >>   }
>> >>   # Do operation that requires sorted list.
>> >>   ...
>> >>
>> >> This is obviously a toy example.  I'm not actually sorting integers
>> >> and I may use a matrix instead of a list.
>> >>
>> >> I've read:
>> >>
>> >>   http://www.hep.by/gnu/r-patched/r-exts/R-exts_122.html
>> >>   http://homepage.stat.uiowa.edu/~luke/R/references/weakfinex.html
>> >>
>> >> As far as I can tell, weakrefs are only available via the C API.  Is
>> >> there a way to do what I want in R without resorting to C code?  Is
>> >> what I want to do better achieved using something other than weakrefs?
>> >>
>> >> Thanks!
>> >>
>> >> :) Neal
>> >>
>> >> ______________________________________________
>> >> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> >> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> >> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> >>
>> >
>> >         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>> >
>> > ______________________________________________
>> > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> > PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

-------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at wlandres.net>
Date: 05-Jun-2016  Time: 19:01:10
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