Both typeof() and class() functions in R can be used to check the data type of a variable. While typeof() returns the internal storage mode, class() returns the attributes of the object as how it should be treated in context of object-oriented programming.

In R, if a variable is not found in the local environment of a nested function, the function will look in the parent environment of the outer function. This allows the nested function to access variables defined in the outer function, providing access to variables from higher-level environments.

In R, the max.col() function can be used to find the maximum value in each column of a data frame. The max.col() function returns a vector of indices corresponding to the column-wise maximum values.

To define a global variable inside a function in R, you use the <- operator. By assigning a value to a variable using <- within a function, the variable becomes a global variable that can be accessed from anywhere in the program.

When you assign a new value to a variable that already exists in R, the old value is replaced with the new one. This is because variable assignment in R does not preserve previous values.

To improve the performance of a slow-running piece of code in R that contains nested loops, you can use strategies such as vectorizing operations within the loops, preallocating output objects to reduce memory reallocation, and utilizing R's apply family of functions (e.g., apply(), lapply(), sapply()) to avoid explicit use of nested loops. These strategies can significantly improve the performance of the code.

In R, the syntax for an if statement is if (condition) { code to execute if the condition is true }. The code inside the curly braces will be executed only if the condition evaluates to true.

When two vectors are concatenated in R using the 'c()' function, the result is a new vector containing all elements of the original vectors. The order of elements in the new vector follows the order in which the original vectors were concatenated.

The syntax for a while loop in R is while (condition) { code }. The condition is evaluated before each iteration, and if it is true, the code block inside the loop is executed. The loop continues as long as the condition remains true.

When using conditional statements in R, it is best to follow some best practices to enhance code readability and maintainability. This includes using meaningful condition names and comments, avoiding unnecessary nesting of if statements to keep the code simple, and testing and validating the condition logic with different inputs to ensure its correctness.