Data Science for Engineers

Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy

Lecture – 08
Advanced programming in R: Functions

Welcome to the lecture 7 in the R module of the course Data Science for Engineers.

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In this lecture we are going to introduce you to the functions in R. We are going to
explain how to load or source the functions and how to call or invoke the functions.
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Functions are useful when you want to perform certain tasks many number of times. A
function accepts input arguments and produces the output by executing valid R
commands that are inside the function.

In R when you are creating a function the function name and the file in which you are
creating the function need not be same and you can have one or more function
definitions in a single R file. Functions are created in R by using the command function.
The general structure of the function file is as follows f is equal to function of arguments
and then you have statements that are needed to be executed. This f is the function name
when you write this command this means that you are creating a function with name f
which takes certain arguments and executes the following statements.
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Let us see how to create a function file. Creating a function file is similar to opening an
R script which we have already seen. You can either use file button in the toolbar or you
can use the plus button just below the file tab to create an R script, once you create an R
script you can save it with whatever name you want.

(Refer Slide Time: 01:56)

For example, we have saved the R file as vol cylinder. Now, once you save you are ready
to write functions, now I want to create a function which calculates the volume of a
cylinder which takes in the arguments the diameter and length. So, to create a function
by name volume cylinder I have to have the function named as volume cylinder function
and the arguments that are needed to be passed are the diameter of the cylinder and the
length of the cylinder.

If you notice here we are passing this values of 5 and 100 as a default arguments for this
function. Once you have diameter and length you can calculate the volume by the
formula pi d square l by 4 then what you need to return is the volume variable that is
calculated inside the function. Once you have written the R statements that are needed to
be executed in a function file, you can save that file. So, we are saving it as vol cylinder
dot R.

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Once you save this. So, you need to load the functions before you invoke or execute
them in R. To load a function you need to click on the source button that is available in
the R script menu.
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Clicking the source button will not execute the function; it will only load the function file
and make it ready for invoking.

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Once you load the function, you can invoke the function from the console as follows you
want the volume to be saved in the variable v and then you are calling this function vol
cylinder with the arguments 5 and 10. So, this will run the function to calculate the
volume and returns the volume. In the variable browser you can also see value of volume
and you can also see that the function volume cylinder is available with two arguments
dia and length.

(Refer Slide Time: 03:56)

Now, there are several ways you can pass the arguments to the function. Generally in R
the arguments are passed to the function in the same order as in the function definition. If
you do not want to follow any order what you can do is you can pass the arguments using
the names of the arguments in any order. If the arguments are not passed the default
values are used to execute the function.

Now, let us see the examples for each of these cases when you pass the arguments 5 and
10 the first argument is diameter and second argument is length according to the
definition of the function. So, it will take in the same way, but when you want not to
follow any order you can pass the arguments by the names in any order. So, for example,
I want to pass length as a first argument you can specify length is equal to 10 and
diameter is equal to 5 and you can still see the result is same even though you pass the
arguments in the different order.

So, point to keep in mind is you can pass the arguments in any order by specifying its
name. When you do not pass any arguments here it takes the default values of 5 and 100
which are default diameter and length and then calculates the volume.
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In R the functions are executed in a lazy fashion, when we say lazy what it mean is if
some arguments are missing the function is still executed as long as the execution does
not involve those arguments. We will see an example for this. We have the same function
we have defined now an extra argument radius in the function and the volume calculation
does not involve this argument radius in this calculation.

Now, when you pass this arguments dia and length even though you are not passing this
radius the function will still execute because this radius is not used in the calculations
inside the function. But R is clever enough, if you do not pass the argument and then use
it in the definition of the function it will throw an error saying that this rad is not passed
and it is being used in the function definition.
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In summary these are the steps in creating a function file in R and executing. First we
need to open or create a function file by clicking a that the plus symbol or file tab in the
toolbar you have to define the function in this fashion function name, keyword function
and the input arguments.

All the statements that are typed inside the function has to be valid R statements to be
executed, and you need to save the function file before executing you need to load the
function file by using the source button once you load the function file you can invoke or
call the function file with the right number of inputs so that you will execute the function
properly and you will get the required result.
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A final word we need to load the function file every time you change something inside
the function definition either you restart R studio or make changes in the function file. If
you do not do that either you get an error or you will not get correct outputs which you
are expecting, because you would have changed something in the function definition and
not saved the original version. Once you save the original version also you have to
invoke the function before you use.

In the next lecture we are going to explain the functions which are having multiple inputs
and multiple outputs.

Thank you.