[R] randomForest crash?

[Liaw, Andy]

Karen,

There were a couple of stupid errors in 3.4-4.  I've uploaded a patched
release, 3.4-5, to CRAN.  Your example now runs without problem.

However, you probably are not using the function correctly, even though the
new version runs without problem.  The response you are using, V217, is
numeric with values 1 and 2.  randomForest() will think that you actually
have numerical response, and thus fit a regression model, rather than
classification.  To do classification, the response *must* be factor.

Last but not least, it's a good idea to upgrade R: if not for the new
features, at least for the bug fixes.  

Cheers,
Andy

> From: Karen.Chancellor at asu.edu [mailto:Karen.Chancellor at asu.edu]
> 
> Hi Andy,
> Here is the data.frame, and my command is
>     lung.rf <- randomForest(V217 ~ ., data=tlAS216cda, 
> importance=TRUE,
>           proximity=TRUE)
> 
> Thanks for checking it on your machine.
> Also, I have R-1.5 on a linux6.1 machine. Will this version 
> of randomForests 
> run on that machine? If not, is there one that will?
> Thanks. 
> Karen
> 
> Quoting "Liaw, Andy" <andy_liaw at merck.com>:
> 
> > Hi Karen,
> > 
> > I have not seen such problem, nor heard similar report.  
> All I can say
> > is
> > that we have used the package on much larger data sets without
> > problem.
> > 
> > As the R developers say, the best way to get bugs fixed is 
> by crashing
> > the
> > developer's machine.  If you can send me the data (without 
> column/row
> > labels, if need be), I can try and see if it crashes R on 
> my machine. 
> > Other
> > than that, there's not much I can offer.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Andy
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Karen.Chancellor at asu.edu [mailto:Karen.Chancellor at asu.edu]
> > > Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 2:57 AM
> > > To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > > Subject: [R] randomForest crash?
> > > 
> > > 
> > > I am attempting to use randomForests to look for interesting genes
> > in
> > > microarray data with 216genes, 2 classes and 52 samples. My 
> > > data.frame 
> > > is 52x217 with the last column, V217 being the class(1 or 2).
> > > 
> > > When I try
> > >         lung.rf <- randomForest(V217 ~ ., data=tlSA216cda,
> > importance=
> > >                 TRUE, proximity = TRUE)
> > > the GUI crashes. 
> > > 
> > > I am running R-1.6.2 under windo$e98, and most recent version 
> > > of randomForest.
> > > Your ideas appreciated.
> > > Karen
> > > 
> > > 
> > > .-  --.  ....-  -.-.  -.-.
> > > 
> > > ______________________________________________
> > > R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> > > https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > > 
> > 
> > 
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