[RkWard-devel] handling of loaded packages?

[SJR]

Hi there,

while fiddling around with some packages I was wondering how to handle loaded 
packages. The usual way is require(). Then the package is loaded and kept in 
the workspace.
This is also happening in some of the coming new plug-ins e.g. the 
distribution analysis, though very limited. Since RKWard will also handle 
very sophisticated tasks in future we will require more packages that do not 
belong to the basics (base, stats, graphics, ...). Should we pay attention to 
workspace "cleaning procedures".  For example if package YX is not required 
for, let's say 10 minutes, then package XY is unloaded else kept for the next 
time frame and so on. Maybe it's "wise" to keep memory usage as low as 
possible, though I did a little test and there is only little change when 
some pages are loaded. Loading of packages will be fast anyway. But I don't 
see a way to do it automatically in R.

What do you think?