[R] Help with saving user defined functions

[Jeff Newmiller]

So doesn't the fact that a function contains a reference to an environment suggest that this whole exercise is a really bad idea?
-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On February 12, 2017 4:05:31 PM PST, Bert Gunter <bgunter.4567 at gmail.com> wrote:
>It worked fine for me:
>
>> t <- rnorm(100)
>> cdf <- ecdf(t)
>>
>> trans <- function(x) qnorm(cdf(x) * 0.99)
>> saveRDS(trans, "/tmp/foo")
>> trans(1.2)
>[1] 1.042457
>> trans1 <- readRDS("/tmp/foo")
>> trans1(0)
>[1] 0.1117773
>
>
>Of course, if I remove cdf() from the global environment, it will fail:
>
>> rm(cdf)
>> trans1(0)
>Error in qnorm(cdf(x) * 0.99) : could not find function "cdf"
>
>So it looks like you're clearing you global workspace in between
>saving and loading?
>
>You may need to read up on function closures/lexical scoping : A
>user-defined function in R includes not only code but also a pointer
>to the environment in which it was defined, in your case, the global
>environment from which you apparently removed cdf(). Note that
>functions are not evauated until called, so free variables in the
>functions that do not or will not exist in the function's lexical
>scope when called will not trigger any errors until the function *is*
>called.
>
>Same comments for your second version -- if tmp is removed the
>function will fail.
>
>
>
>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, Feb 12, 2017 at 2:11 PM, George Trojan - NOAA Federal
><george.trojan at noaa.gov> wrote:
>> I can't figure out how to save functions to RDS file. Here is an
>example
>> what I am trying to achieve:
>>
>>> t <- rnorm(100)
>>> cdf <- ecdf(t)
>>> cdf(0)
>> [1] 0.59
>>> saveRDS(cdf, "/tmp/foo")
>>>
>> Save workspace image? [y/n/c]: n
>> [gtrojan at asok petproject]$ R
>>> cdf <- readRDS("/tmp/foo")
>>> cdf
>> Empirical CDF
>> Call: ecdf(t)
>> x[1:100] = -2.8881, -2.2054, -2.0026,  ..., 2.0367, 2.0414
>>
>> This works. However when instead of saving cdf() I try to save
>function
>>
>>> trans <- function(x) qnorm(cdf(x) * 0.99)
>>
>> after restoring object from file I get an error:
>>
>>> trans <- readRDS("/tmp/foo")
>>> trans(0)
>> Error in qnorm(cdf(x) * 0.99) : could not find function "cdf"
>>
>> I tried to define and call cdf within the definition of trans,
>without
>> success:
>>
>>> tmp <- rnorm(100)
>>> trans <- function(x) { cdf <- ecdf(tmp); cdf(0); qnorm(cdf(x)) *
>0.99 }
>>> saveRDS(trans, "/tmp/foo")
>> Save workspace image? [y/n/c]: n
>>
>>> trans <- readRDS("/tmp/foo")
>>> trans
>> function(x) { cdf <- ecdf(tmp); cdf(0); qnorm(cdf(x)) * 0.99 }
>>> trans(0)
>> Error in sort(x) : object 'tmp' not found
>>
>> So, here the call cdf(0) did not force evaluation of my random
>sample. What
>> am I missing?
>>
>> George
>>
>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
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>> 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.