There are at least two sparse matrix packages for R. I'm looking into these because I'm working with datasets that are too big and sparse to fit in memory with a dense representation. I want basic linear algebra routines, plus the ability to easily write C code to operate on them. Which library is the most mature and best to use?
So far I've found
Anyone have experience with this?
From searching around RSeek.org a little bit, the Matrix package seems the most commonly mentioned one. I often think of CRAN Task Views as fairly authoritative, and the Multivariate Task View mentions Matrix and SparseM.
Matrix is the most common and has also just been accepted R standard installation (as of 2.9.0), so should be broadly available.
Matrix in base: https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-announce/2009/000499.html