Similar to rPython, the rPithon package (http://rpithon.r-forge.r-project.org) allows users to execute Python code from R and exchange the data between Python and R. However, the underlying mechanisms between these two packages are fundamentally different. Wihle rPithon communicates with Python from R through pipes, rPython accomplishes the same task with json. A major advantage of rPithon over rPython is that multiple Python processes can be started within a R session. However, rPithon is not very robust while exchanging large data objects between R and Python.
rPython Session
1 library(sqldf) 2 df_in <- sqldf('select Year, Month, DayofMonth from tbl2008 limit 5000', dbname = '/home/liuwensui/Documents/data/flights.db') 3 library(rPython) 4 ### R DATA.FRAME TO PYTHON DICTIONARY ### 5 python.assign('py_dict', df_in) 6 ### PASS PYTHON DICTIONARY BACK TO R LIST 7 r_list <- python.get('py_dict') 8 ### CONVERT R LIST TO DATA.FRAME 9 df_out <- data.frame(r_list) 10 dim(df_out) 11 # [1] 5000 3 12 # 13 # real 0m0.973s 14 # user 0m0.797s 15 # sys 0m0.186s
rPithon Session
1 library(sqldf) 2 df_in <- sqldf('select Year, Month, DayofMonth from tbl2008 limit 5000', dbname = '/home/liuwensui/Documents/data/flights.db') 3 library(rPithon) 4 ### R DATA.FRAME TO PYTHON DICTIONARY ### 5 pithon.assign('py_dict', df_in) 6 ### PASS PYTHON DICTIONARY BACK TO R LIST 7 r_list <- pithon.get('py_dict') 8 ### CONVERT R LIST TO DATA.FRAME 9 df_out <- data.frame(r_list) 10 dim(df_out) 11 # [1] 5000 3 12 # 13 # real 0m0.984s 14 # user 0m0.771s 15 # sys 0m0.187s