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Elapsed time

Using system.time() is convenient, but it does have its drawbacks when comparing multiple function calls. The microbenchmark package solves this problem with the microbenchmark() function.

This exercise is part of the course

Writing Efficient R Code

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Exercise instructions

The "movies.csv" and "movies.rds" files are available in your workspace.

  • Load the microbenchmark package using the library() function.
  • Using microbenchmark(), read.csv(), and readRDS(), compare the time it takes to import the CSV file with the time it takes to import the RDS file. Store the result as a variable called compare.
    • In your call to microbenchmark(), specify times = 10 to call each function 10 times.
  • Print compare to see the results.

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

# Load the microbenchmark package
library(___)

# Compare the two functions
compare <- microbenchmark(___, 
                          ___, 
                          times = ___)

# Print compare
___
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