My Introduction to parallel computing in R
I derive a sadistic satisfaction in making my computer work hard to run my code. When the peripheral applications lag, the cooling fan ramps up, and the CPU load goes to 100%. I love making my computer work hard. The project My latest research project requires me to improve models which are used to predict 'Black Spot' spore dispersal from infested crop residue following field peas . This model will be used to assess the timing and risk of spore showers for growers wanting to plant field peas so they can either 'dodge' heavy spore showers by shifting the planting window or apply a fungicide. Needless to say, simulating millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions, perhaps even over octillion spores and their movements need a hefty amount of computing power. I translated an old model built for running in the Mathematica programming language which used seemingly a lot of, ' for' loops. After many errors, mainly due to data formatting changes I managed