The positive reactions on my last post: “Different kinds of loops in R” lead me to compare some different versions of loops in R, RCPP (C++ integration of R). To see a bigger picture, I apply the Python for-loop additionally. The comparison focuses on the runtime for non-costly tasks with different numbers of iterations. For comparison purpose I create vectors in the form of (R syntax):

Vector <- 1:k

k = (1.000, 100.000, 1.000.000)

The task is to…

Normally, it is better to avoid loops in R. But for highly individual tasks a vectorization is not always possible. Hence, a loop is needed – if the problem is decomposable.

Which different kinds of loops exist in R and which one to use in which situation?

In each programming language, for- and while-loops (sometimes until-loops) exist. These loops are sequential and not that fast – in R.

for(i in…