Author: Jonathan Berrisch
Date: 2024-09-21

# Adding rcpptimer to a Package

#### Jonathan Berrisch

#### 2024-09-21

## Adding rcpptimer to your Package

Using rcpptimer in your package is simple. Just link to it in your `DESCRIPTION` file:

    LinkingTo: rcpptimer (>= 1.2.0)

And add the header into your .cpp file `#include <rcpptimer.h>`. Now, you can create and use an instance of the `Rcpp::Timer` class. Consider this `fibonacci_omp` function:

    #include <rcpptimer.h>

    long int fib(long int n)
    {
      return ((n <= 1) ? n : fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2));
    }

    //[[Rcpp::export]]
    std::vector<long int> fibonacci_omp(std::vector<long int> n)
    {
      Rcpp::Timer timer;
     // This scoped timer measures the total execution time of 'fibonacci'
      Rcpp::Timer::ScopedTimer scpdtmr(timer, "fib_body");
      std::vector<long int> results = n;
      #pragma omp parallel for
      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < n.size(); ++i)
      {
        timer.tic("fib_" + std::to_string(n[i]));
        results[i] = fib(n[i]);
        timer.toc("fib_" + std::to_string(n[i]));
      }
      return (results);
    }

This function is available in rcpptimer so you can try it yourself, e.g., `rcpptimer::fibonacci(n = rep(20:25, 10))`. After that, you can inspect the timings by executing `print(times)`.

As you can see, it writes the timings to the global environment as data.frame called `times`. Read the following section to learn why this differs from what you want in a package.

## Autoreturn

When using rcpptimer in your package, consider turning off the timer’s `autoreturn` feature. Users of your package may need to be made aware of this functionality. They may already have an object named `times` in their global environment or may have rigorous expectations about what objects they want to write into their environment. Instead, you should include the timings in your data structures or parameterize the name of the returned object, the `autoreturn` feature itself, or both.

See `vignette("autoreturn")` vignette to read about this in detail.

## Reexport Print Method

If you use `rcpptimer` in your package, you may want to suggest `rcpptimer` in your DESCRIPTION and register the S3 method `print.rcpptimer`. This method is used to print the timings in a more readable way. It will scale the results to be more readable. I.e. if all timings are greater than 1 second, it will print the results in seconds.

Two adjustments are necessary in your package:

First, add the following line to your `DESCRIPTION` file:

    Suggests: rcpptimer (>= 1.2.0)

Second, add the following code to your package:

    if (requireNamespace("rcpptimer", quietly = TRUE)) {
      registerS3method("print", "rcpptimer", rcpptimer:::print.rcpptimer)
    }

This will register `print.rcpptimer` if `rcpptimer` is available. You can place this code in a function that uses `rcpptimer` or your package’s `.onLoad` function1.

1. https://r-pkgs.org/code.html#sec-code-onLoad-onAttach↩︎