optimizeR

The {optimizeR} package provides an object-oriented framework for optimizer functions in R and adds convenience features for minimization and maximization.

You probably do not need this package if you…

• already know which optimizer you want to use and are comfortable with its constraints, such as minimization only over the first function argument;
• want to compare optimizers that are already covered by {optimx}, a framework for comparing about 30 optimizers;
• are searching for new optimization algorithms, because this package does not implement optimizer functions itself.

You might find the package useful if you want to…

• compare optimizer functions not covered by {optimx} or other frameworks (see the CRAN Task View: Optimization and Mathematical Programming for an overview);
• have consistently named inputs and outputs across different optimizers;
• view optimizers as objects, which can help when implementing packages that depend on optimization;
• use optimizers for both minimization and maximization,
• optimize over more than one function argument,
• measure computation time or set a time limit for long optimization tasks.

How to use the package?

The following demo is a bit artificial, but it showcases the package purpose. Assume we want to

• maximize a function over two of its arguments,
• interrupt optimization if it exceeds 10 seconds,
• compare the performance of stats::nlm and pracma::nelder_mead.

We can do this task with {optimizeR}. You can install the released package version from CRAN with:

install.packages("optimizeR")

Then load the package via library("optimizeR").

1. Define the objective function

Let $f:\mathbb{R}^4\to\mathbb{R}$ with

f <- function(a, b, x, y) {
  a * exp(-0.2 * sqrt(0.5 * (x^2 + y^2))) + exp(0.5 * (cos(2 * pi * x) + cos(2 * pi * y))) - exp(1) - b
}

For a = b = 20, this is the negative Ackley function with a global maximum in x = y = 0:

We want to keep a and b fixed here and optimize over x and y, which are both single numeric values.

Two problems would occur if we optimized f directly with, say, stats::nlm:

1. There are two target arguments (x and y).
2. The target arguments are not the first arguments of f.

Both features are unsupported by stats::nlm and most other optimizers, but they are supported by {optimizeR}. We just have to define an objective object that we can later pass to the optimizers:

objective <- Objective$new(
  f = f,                 # f is our objective function
  target = c("x", "y"),  # x and y are the target arguments
  npar = c(1, 1),        # the target arguments have both a length of 1
  "a" = 20,              
  "b" = 20               # a and b have fixed values
)

2. Create the optimizer objects

Now that we have defined the objective function, let’s define the optimizer objects. For stats::nlm, this is a one-liner:

nlm <- Optimizer$new(which = "stats::nlm")

The {optimizeR} package provides a dictionary of optimizers that can be selected directly via the which argument. For an overview of available optimizers, see:

optimizer_dictionary
#> <Dictionary> optimization algorithms 
#> Keys: 
#> - lbfgsb3c::lbfgsb3c
#> - lbfgsb3c::lbfgsb3
#> - lbfgsb3c::lbfgsb3f
#> - lbfgsb3c::lbfgsb3x
#> - stats::nlm
#> - stats::nlminb
#> - stats::optim
#> - ucminf::ucminf

Any optimizer that is not contained in the dictionary can still be put into the {optimizeR} framework by setting which = "custom" first:

nelder_mead <- Optimizer$new(which = "custom")
#> Use method `$definition()` next to define a custom optimizer.

Then use the $definition() method:

nelder_mead$definition(
  algorithm = pracma::nelder_mead, # the optimization function
  arg_objective = "fn",            # the objective function argument name
  arg_initial = "x0",              # the argument name for the initial values
  out_value = "fmin",              # the optimal function value element
  out_parameter = "xmin",          # the optimal parameter element
  direction = "min"                # the optimizer minimizes
)

3. Set a time limit

Each optimizer object has a field called $seconds, which equals Inf by default. You can set a different single numeric value to define a time limit in seconds for the optimization:

nlm$seconds <- 10
nelder_mead$seconds <- 10

Note that not everything, especially compiled C code, can technically be timed out. See the help page help("withTimeout", package = "R.utils") for more details.

4. Maximize the objective function

Each optimizer object has the methods $maximize() and $minimize() for function maximization and minimization, respectively. Both methods require values for two arguments:

1. objective (either an objective object as defined above or just a function) and
2. initial (an initial parameter vector where the optimizer should start)

They optionally accept additional arguments for the objective function. Optimizer-specific arguments should be set when creating the optimizer object or via $set_arguments().

nlm$maximize(objective = objective, initial = c(3, 3))
#> $value
#> [1] -6.559645
#> 
#> $parameter
#> [1] 1.974451 1.974451
#> 
#> $seconds
#> [1] 0.04005599
#> 
#> $initial
#> [1] 3 3
#> 
#> $error
#> [1] FALSE
#> 
#> $gradient
#> [1] 5.757896e-08 5.757896e-08
#> 
#> $code
#> [1] 1
#> 
#> $iterations
#> [1] 6

nelder_mead$maximize(objective = objective, initial = c(3, 3))
#> $value
#> [1] 0
#> 
#> $parameter
#> [1] 0 0
#> 
#> $seconds
#> [1] 0.02831006
#> 
#> $initial
#> [1] 3 3
#> 
#> $error
#> [1] FALSE
#> 
#> $count
#> [1] 105
#> 
#> $info
#> $info$solver
#> [1] "Nelder-Mead"
#> 
#> $info$restarts
#> [1] 0

Note that

• the inputs for the objective function and initial parameter values are named consistently across optimizers,

• the output values for the optimal parameter vector and maximum function value are also named consistently across optimizers,

• the output contains the initial parameter values, the optimization time in seconds, and other optimizer-specific elements,

• pracma::nelder_mead outperforms stats::nlm here both in optimization time and in convergence to the global maximum.

Getting in touch

If you have any questions, found a bug, or need a feature, please file an issue on GitHub.