[R] The R "fork"

[Uwe Ligges]

pau carre wrote:
> Hello, I would like to call a function that can take infinite time to
> be executed in some circumstances (which can not be easily detected).
> So, I would like that once the function is being executed for more
> than two seconds it is stopped. I have found documentation for timers
> but i did not found how to "kill" a function. Moreover, I would like
> not to change the function code (it should work in all R versions and
> I want to use the default function because of the updates in its
> package).


On the one hand I do not think this is possible on all supported 
platforms, on the other hand I think non-terminating algotithms can be 
improved by checking number of iterations or recursion depth for some 
forces termination.
You might want to ask the package maintainer to include such an 
improvement (of not bugfix) in his code. The package maintainer 
certainly will be happy to see your contribution.

Uwe Ligges


> Pau
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html