a 'split' function should not take hours to complete.  I will not even wait a couple of minutes for one until I look at other approaches.  Can you at least show what the command looks like and what the structure of the data is.  Are you trying to split a dataframe on multiple criteria?  I tend to use 'data.table' for some of these operation, or split the indices of a dataframe instead of the data.  My own criteria is that if a single base function call is taking more than a minute, I see if there are options.

This is also a case of "tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it".

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 14, 2013, at 23:24, L S <losedaghat@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Jim and David for your helpful feedback.  I still have not terminated RStudio (and it still has not gone to completion).  A few observations I forgot to mention is that the red "stop" icon is showing in RStudio so I am unable to enter any new commands.  Also there is a blinking cursor under the "> command" I ran with no > before the cursor.
> 
> David--Looking at the activity monitor, RStudio is using anywhere from 0.4-1% of CPU while another process called rsession is using anywhere from 17-23% CPU.  Does this mean it has given up processing the R command?  If so, is there anything I can do to ensure this won't happen next time I try to run the command with my data?
> 
> (Also, how can you tell if the process is using virtual memory?)
> 
> Jim--What I'm running now is just a single instruction using the split function, so I would not be able to put in the progress messages.  But, that's a great idea! I will keep that in mind if I run into problems with scripts in the future.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 6:46 PM, jim holtman <jholtman@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you are writing a script that you know will take a long time to process, "pepper" it with "progress" reports so you know what part of the script it is in and when it is going around loop.  On some of my long scripts, I will print out a message every n'th time through the loop so that I know if it making progress.  I position them so that I get out a message every minute or so.  Also make sure the GUI is not buffered, or better, follow each status with a 'flush.console()' to put the message out to the screen.  This will give you a feeling of what progress you are making.  
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 5:40 PM, L S <losedaghat@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Have any of you ever encountered a situation where R stops processing an
> instruction but does not give a "not responding" message?
> 
> The reason I ask is I am working in RStudio (Mac OS/X 10.7, 1.8 Ghz i7, 4
> GB DDR3) and the instruction I entered in the command line pane is still
> being processed since last night around 7 PM.  I expected it to take on the
> order of 8-12 hours to complete, but I'm nearing 24 hours with no progress,
> no messages, etc.
> 
> The command is essentially splitting the a ppp (marked point pattern) into
> a tessellation/grid.  There are about a couple million points in the
> pattern and each has a vector of four marks.  That said, I processed a
> similar command with 700,000 points in the pattern (each point with a
> vector of two marks) yesterday and it took only around 3 hours.
> 
> Is there anyway I can be certain the command is being processed?  I don't
> want to abort prematurely if I know it will go to completion.  How long
> would you give it before you knew for certain it would not complete?
> 
> Any guidance you could offer would be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Lily
> 
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> 
> ______________________________________________
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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.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jim Holtman
> Data Munger Guru
>  
> What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
> Tell me what you want to do, not how you want to do it.
> 

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