[R] ifelse versus ...

[Uwe Ligges]

Francisco J Molina wrote:
> 
> I read somewhere that, instead of the structure if(...) else(...)
> it is better to use the command ifelse(...,...,...).
> 
> Currently I am using structures like
> 
> ifelse(...,{sequence; of; commands}, 0)
> 
> instead of if(...){sequence; of; commands}
> 
> and I am using
> 
> ifelse(...,{sequence; of; commands}, {another; Sequence; Of; Commands })
> 
> instead of
> 
> if(...){sequence; of; commands}
> else{another; Sequence; Of; Commands })
> 
> In this way the program becomes a little bit more difficult to read but
> I think that I am optimizing the performance.
> 
> The question is:
> 
> Am I actually optimizing the performance?

No. You can figure it out yourself by a little "simulation" (looping
over if() else() and ifelse()).
ifelse() is designed (and more efficient) for vectorized procedures.

Uwe Ligges
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