[R] save(), load(), saveRDS(), and readRDS()

[Jim Lemon]

Hello,
I am very sad to let you know that my husband Jim died on 18th September. I
apologise for not letting you know earlier but I had trouble finding the
password for his phone.
Kind regards,
Juel

On Fri, 29 Sep 2023, 01:48 Shu Fai Cheung <shufai.cheung using gmail.com wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> There is a thread about the use of save(), load(), saveRDS(), and
> loadRDS(). It led me to think about a question regarding them.
>
> In my personal work, I prefer using saveRDS() and loadRDS() as I don't like
> the risk of overwriting anything in the global environment. I also like the
> freedom to name an object when reading it from a file.
>
> However, for teaching, I have to teach save() and load() because, in my
> discipline, it is common for researchers to share their datasets on the
> internet using the format saved by save(), and so students need to know how
> to use load() and what will happen when using it. Actually, I can't recall
> encountering datasets shared by the .rds format. I have been wondering why
> save() was usually used in that case.
>
> That discussion led me to read the help pages again and I noticed the
> following warning, from the help page of saveRDS():
>
> "Files produced by saveRDS (or serialize to a file connection) are not
> suitable as an interchange format between machines, for example to download
> from a website. The files produced by save
> <http://127.0.0.1:18888/library/base/help/save> have a header identifying
> the file type and so are better protected against erroneous use."
>
> When will the problem mentioned in the warning occur? That is, when will a
> file saved by saveRDS() not be read correctly? Saved in Linux and then read
> in Windows? Is it possible to create a reproducible error?
>
> Regards,
> Shu Fai
>
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>
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