Optimizing R

This skill covers profiling, benchmarking, parallelization, and performance best practices for R.

Core Principle

Profile before optimizing - Use profvis and bench to identify real bottlenecks. Write readable code first, optimize only when necessary.

Tool	Use When	Don't Use When	What It Shows
`profvis`	Complex code, unknown bottlenecks	Simple functions, known issues	Time per line, call stack
`bench::mark()`	Comparing alternatives	Single approach	Relative performance, memory
`system.time()`	Quick checks	Detailed analysis	Total runtime only
`Rprof()`	Base R only environments	When profvis available	Raw profiling data

Related skills