[R] .Rdata files -- fortune?

[Prof J C Nash (U30A)]

Well put. I avoid them too, and go so far as to seek and destroy so they
don't get loaded unnoticed and cause unwanted consequences.

".RData files (the ones with nothing before the period) are just traps
for your future self, with no documentation. I avoid them like the plague."


JN

On 15-03-11 07:00 AM, r-help-request at r-project.org wrote:
> Message: 34
> Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 17:51:15 -0700
> From: Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil at dcn.davis.CA.us>
> To: Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz>, Erin Hodgess
> 	<erinm.hodgess at gmail.com>, R help <r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch>
> Subject: Re: [R] .Rprofile vs. First (more of an opinion question)
> Message-ID: <E5A53229-B271-42D9-BEAB-73142B2F62F4 at dcn.davis.CA.us>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
> 
> I concur with Rolf.
> 
> .RData files (the ones with nothing before the period) are just traps for your future self, with no documentation. I avoid them like the plague. I refer to specifically-named Something.RData files in my .R/.Rnw/.Rmd files to cache results of long computations, but they are optional in my workflow because I always have R code that can regenerate them.
> 
> .Rprofile files offer consistency of behavior  regardless of which working directory you use, and you can comment them.
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> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.