在其他答案中，只有 list 方法会导致 O(1) 追加，但它会导致深度嵌套的列表结构，而不是简单的单个列表。我使用了以下数据结构，它们支持 O(1)（摊销）附加，并允许将结果转换回普通列表。
expandingList <- function(capacity = 10) {
buffer <- vector('list', capacity)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$double.size <- function() {
buffer <<- c(buffer, vector('list', capacity))
capacity <<- capacity * 2
}
methods$add <- function(val) {
if(length == capacity) {
methods$double.size()
}
length <<- length + 1
buffer[[length]] <<- val
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- buffer[0:length]
return(b)
}
methods
}
和
linkedList <- function() {
head <- list(0)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$add <- function(val) {
length <<- length + 1
head <<- list(head, val)
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- vector('list', length)
h <- head
for(i in length:1) {
b[[i]] <- head[[2]]
head <- head[[1]]
}
return(b)
}
methods
}
按如下方式使用它们：
> l <- expandingList()
> l$add("hello")
> l$add("world")
> l$add(101)
> l$as.list()
[[1]]
[1] "hello"
[[2]]
[1] "world"
[[3]]
[1] 101
这些解决方案可以扩展为支持所有列表相关操作的完整对象，但这仍将作为读者的练习。
命名列表的另一种变体：
namedExpandingList <- function(capacity = 10) {
buffer <- vector('list', capacity)
names <- character(capacity)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$double.size <- function() {
buffer <<- c(buffer, vector('list', capacity))
names <<- c(names, character(capacity))
capacity <<- capacity * 2
}
methods$add <- function(name, val) {
if(length == capacity) {
methods$double.size()
}
length <<- length + 1
buffer[[length]] <<- val
names[length] <<- name
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- buffer[0:length]
names(b) <- names[0:length]
return(b)
}
methods
}
基准测试
使用@phonetagger 的代码（基于@Cron Arconis 的代码）进行性能比较。我还添加了better_env_as_container 并稍微更改了env_as_container_。原始的env_as_container_ 已损坏，实际上并未存储所有数字。
library(microbenchmark)
lPtrAppend <- function(lstptr, lab, obj) {lstptr[[deparse(lab)]] <- obj}
### Store list inside new environment
envAppendList <- function(lstptr, obj) {lstptr$list[[length(lstptr$list)+1]] <- obj}
env2list <- function(env, len) {
l <- vector('list', len)
for (i in 1:len) {
l[[i]] <- env[[as.character(i)]]
}
l
}
envl2list <- function(env, len) {
l <- vector('list', len)
for (i in 1:len) {
l[[i]] <- env[[paste(as.character(i), 'L', sep='')]]
}
l
}
runBenchmark <- function(n) {
microbenchmark(times = 5,
env_with_list_ = {
listptr <- new.env(parent=globalenv())
listptr$list <- NULL
for(i in 1:n) {envAppendList(listptr, i)}
listptr$list
},
c_ = {
a <- list(0)
for(i in 1:n) {a = c(a, list(i))}
},
list_ = {
a <- list(0)
for(i in 1:n) {a <- list(a, list(i))}
},
by_index = {
a <- list(0)
for(i in 1:n) {a[length(a) + 1] <- i}
a
},
append_ = {
a <- list(0)
for(i in 1:n) {a <- append(a, i)}
a
},
env_as_container_ = {
listptr <- new.env(hash=TRUE, parent=globalenv())
for(i in 1:n) {lPtrAppend(listptr, i, i)}
envl2list(listptr, n)
},
better_env_as_container = {
env <- new.env(hash=TRUE, parent=globalenv())
for(i in 1:n) env[[as.character(i)]] <- i
env2list(env, n)
},
linkedList = {
a <- linkedList()
for(i in 1:n) { a$add(i) }
a$as.list()
},
inlineLinkedList = {
a <- list()
for(i in 1:n) { a <- list(a, i) }
b <- vector('list', n)
head <- a
for(i in n:1) {
b[[i]] <- head[[2]]
head <- head[[1]]
}
},
expandingList = {
a <- expandingList()
for(i in 1:n) { a$add(i) }
a$as.list()
},
inlineExpandingList = {
l <- vector('list', 10)
cap <- 10
len <- 0
for(i in 1:n) {
if(len == cap) {
l <- c(l, vector('list', cap))
cap <- cap*2
}
len <- len + 1
l[[len]] <- i
}
l[1:len]
}
)
}
# We need to repeatedly add an element to a list. With normal list concatenation
# or element setting this would lead to a large number of memory copies and a
# quadratic runtime. To prevent that, this function implements a bare bones
# expanding array, in which list appends are (amortized) constant time.
expandingList <- function(capacity = 10) {
buffer <- vector('list', capacity)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$double.size <- function() {
buffer <<- c(buffer, vector('list', capacity))
capacity <<- capacity * 2
}
methods$add <- function(val) {
if(length == capacity) {
methods$double.size()
}
length <<- length + 1
buffer[[length]] <<- val
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- buffer[0:length]
return(b)
}
methods
}
linkedList <- function() {
head <- list(0)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$add <- function(val) {
length <<- length + 1
head <<- list(head, val)
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- vector('list', length)
h <- head
for(i in length:1) {
b[[i]] <- head[[2]]
head <- head[[1]]
}
return(b)
}
methods
}
# We need to repeatedly add an element to a list. With normal list concatenation
# or element setting this would lead to a large number of memory copies and a
# quadratic runtime. To prevent that, this function implements a bare bones
# expanding array, in which list appends are (amortized) constant time.
namedExpandingList <- function(capacity = 10) {
buffer <- vector('list', capacity)
names <- character(capacity)
length <- 0
methods <- list()
methods$double.size <- function() {
buffer <<- c(buffer, vector('list', capacity))
names <<- c(names, character(capacity))
capacity <<- capacity * 2
}
methods$add <- function(name, val) {
if(length == capacity) {
methods$double.size()
}
length <<- length + 1
buffer[[length]] <<- val
names[length] <<- name
}
methods$as.list <- function() {
b <- buffer[0:length]
names(b) <- names[0:length]
return(b)
}
methods
}
结果：
> runBenchmark(1000)
Unit: microseconds
expr min lq mean median uq max neval
env_with_list_ 3128.291 3161.675 4466.726 3361.837 3362.885 9318.943 5
c_ 3308.130 3465.830 6687.985 8578.913 8627.802 9459.252 5
list_ 329.508 343.615 389.724 370.504 449.494 455.499 5
by_index 3076.679 3256.588 5480.571 3395.919 8209.738 9463.931 5
append_ 4292.321 4562.184 7911.882 10156.957 10202.773 10345.177 5
env_as_container_ 24471.511 24795.849 25541.103 25486.362 26440.591 26511.200 5
better_env_as_container 7671.338 7986.597 8118.163 8153.726 8335.659 8443.493 5
linkedList 1700.754 1755.439 1829.442 1804.746 1898.752 1987.518 5
inlineLinkedList 1109.764 1115.352 1163.751 1115.631 1206.843 1271.166 5
expandingList 1422.440 1439.970 1486.288 1519.728 1524.268 1525.036 5
inlineExpandingList 942.916 973.366 1002.461 1012.197 1017.784 1066.044 5
> runBenchmark(10000)
Unit: milliseconds
expr min lq mean median uq max neval
env_with_list_ 357.760419 360.277117 433.810432 411.144799 479.090688 560.779139 5
c_ 685.477809 734.055635 761.689936 745.957553 778.330873 864.627811 5
list_ 3.257356 3.454166 3.505653 3.524216 3.551454 3.741071 5
by_index 445.977967 454.321797 515.453906 483.313516 560.374763 633.281485 5
append_ 610.777866 629.547539 681.145751 640.936898 760.570326 763.896124 5
env_as_container_ 281.025606 290.028380 303.885130 308.594676 314.972570 324.804419 5
better_env_as_container 83.944855 86.927458 90.098644 91.335853 92.459026 95.826030 5
linkedList 19.612576 24.032285 24.229808 25.461429 25.819151 26.223597 5
inlineLinkedList 11.126970 11.768524 12.216284 12.063529 12.392199 13.730200 5
expandingList 14.735483 15.854536 15.764204 16.073485 16.075789 16.081726 5
inlineExpandingList 10.618393 11.179351 13.275107 12.391780 14.747914 17.438096 5
> runBenchmark(20000)
Unit: milliseconds
expr min lq mean median uq max neval
env_with_list_ 1723.899913 1915.003237 1921.23955 1938.734718 1951.649113 2076.910767 5
c_ 2759.769353 2768.992334 2810.40023 2820.129738 2832.350269 2870.759474 5
list_ 6.112919 6.399964 6.63974 6.453252 6.910916 7.321647 5
by_index 2163.585192 2194.892470 2292.61011 2209.889015 2436.620081 2458.063801 5
append_ 2832.504964 2872.559609 2983.17666 2992.634568 3004.625953 3213.558197 5
env_as_container_ 573.386166 588.448990 602.48829 597.645221 610.048314 642.912752 5
better_env_as_container 154.180531 175.254307 180.26689 177.027204 188.642219 206.230191 5
linkedList 38.401105 47.514506 46.61419 47.525192 48.677209 50.952958 5
inlineLinkedList 25.172429 26.326681 32.33312 34.403442 34.469930 41.293126 5
expandingList 30.776072 30.970438 34.45491 31.752790 38.062728 40.712542 5
inlineExpandingList 21.309278 22.709159 24.64656 24.290694 25.764816 29.158849 5
我添加了linkedList 和expandingList 以及两者的内联版本。 inlinedLinkedList 基本上是list_ 的副本，但它也将嵌套结构转换回普通列表。除此之外，内联和非内联版本之间的区别在于函数调用的开销。
expandingList 和 linkedList 的所有变体都显示 O(1) 附加性能，基准时间随附加项目的数量线性缩放。 linkedList 比 expandingList 慢，函数调用开销也可见。因此，如果您真的需要尽可能快的速度（并且想要坚持使用 R 代码），请使用 expandingList 的内联版本。
我还查看了 R 的 C 实现，两种方法都应该是 O(1) 追加任何大小，直到内存用完为止。
我还更改了env_as_container_，原来的版本会将每个项目存储在索引“i”下，覆盖之前附加的项目。我添加的better_env_as_container 与env_as_container_ 非常相似，但没有deparse 的东西。两者都表现出 O(1) 的性能，但它们的开销比链接/扩展列表大得多。
内存开销
在 C R 实现中，每个分配的对象有 4 个字和 2 个整数的开销。 linkedList 方法为每个追加分配一个长度为 2 的列表，在 64 位计算机上，每个追加项总共 (4*8+4+4+2*8=) 56 个字节（不包括内存分配开销，因此可能接近 64 个字节）。 expandingList 方法每个附加项使用一个单词，当向量长度加倍时加上一个副本，因此每个项的总内存使用量高达 16 个字节。由于内存都在一个或两个对象中，因此每个对象的开销是微不足道的。我没有深入研究env 的内存使用情况，但我认为它会更接近linkedList。