DelayedDataFrame

DelayedDataFrame implements delayed operations on tabular data using the standard DataFrame metaphor with a lazyIndex slot that saves mapping indexes for each column.

Key Features:

• Lazy indexing: The lazyIndex slot saves mapping indexes for each column of DelayedDataFrame, enabling deferred computation.
• Delayed realization: The listData slot remains untouched until a realization call such as DataFrame constructor or as.list() is invoked.
• Standard DataFrame operations: Methods including show, validity check, [/[[ subsetting, rbind, and cbind are implemented to operate around lazyIndex.

Scientific Applications:

• Large-scale tabular data manipulation: Enables memory-efficient handling of large DataFrame objects in bioinformatics workflows by deferring data loading and computation.

Methodology:

DelayedDataFrame operates by maintaining a lazyIndex slot that stores mapping indexes for each column; standard DataFrame methods are implemented to work around this lazyIndex, and data realization only occurs upon explicit calls to DataFrame constructor or as.list().