epiworldR
epiworldR is a thin R shell whose releases track the C++ simulator underneath it
Comparison · Analytics
affiner vs bittermelon
A side-by-side editorial comparison of affiner and bittermelon — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
affiner vs bittermelon: at a glance
What is affiner?
affiner is quietly turning a grid transformation helper into a small computational geometry library.
An R package that began as a wrapper around grid's affine transformation primitives, with an angle vector class supporting degrees, radians, half-turns, turns and gradians so users need not convert by hand. Four releases in roughly eighteen months. The recent two have expanded well past that starting point into geometric objects and the predicates that operate on them.
What is bittermelon?
bittermelon is growing from binary bitmaps toward greyscale and color glyphs
The package manipulates bitmap fonts and bitmaps in R, and the recent direction is widening what a glyph can be. v2.3.1 adds greyscale font support by reading the experimental yaff levels property into pixmap glyphs with alpha derived from the level fraction, and makes writing a multi-colored glyph an error rather than silently clamping it. Earlier releases built out the same surface: bm_extract(), an interactive pixel picker, data frame coercion, and format support for other packages' bitmap types.
affiner vs bittermelon: editorial side-by-side
affiner
0.0ANALYTICS
affiner is quietly turning a grid transformation helper into a small computational geometry library.
◆ Current state
An R package that began as a wrapper around grid's affine transformation primitives, with an angle vector class supporting degrees, radians, half-turns, turns and gradians so users need not convert by hand. Four releases in roughly eighteen months. The recent two have expanded well past that starting point into geometric objects and the predicates that operate on them.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is clear from the order things arrived. Version 0.2.1 added the predicate layer first — has_intersection(), intersection(), is_equivalent() and is_parallel() as S3 generics working across angle vectors, points, lines and planes. Version 0.3.1 then supplied the objects those generics need, with Ellipse2D, Polygon2D and Segment2D R6 classes plus constructors for rectangles, regular n-gons and isotoxal star polygons, and dot products at one, two and three dimensions. Building the operations before the shapes is unusual ordering but it means each new object type arrives already composable with everything else.
◆ Prediction
Expect more 2D and 3D object types filling out the same generic interface, and the geometry side to keep outgrowing the grid-transformation wrapper the package was named for.
bittermelon
0.0ANALYTICS
bittermelon is growing from binary bitmaps toward greyscale and color glyphs
◆ Current state
The package manipulates bitmap fonts and bitmaps in R, and the recent direction is widening what a glyph can be. v2.3.1 adds greyscale font support by reading the experimental yaff levels property into pixmap glyphs with alpha derived from the level fraction, and makes writing a multi-colored glyph an error rather than silently clamping it. Earlier releases built out the same surface: bm_extract(), an interactive pixel picker, data frame coercion, and format support for other packages' bitmap types.
◆ Where it's heading
Two things are converging. The representation is moving beyond one-bit glyphs — pixmaps, color, and now greyscale levels with transparency — while the API gets stricter about the boundary between them, refusing to quietly downcast a color glyph on write. Separately, the package has been shedding weight: the embedded monobit copy was removed once it outgrew CRAN size limits, pushing format breadth onto a user-installed dependency.
◆ Prediction
Expect further greyscale and color work now that levels parsing exists — most likely writing that format rather than only reading it, since the write path is where the current release chose to draw a hard error instead.
Alternatives to affiner and bittermelon
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either affiner or bittermelon.
watina
A groundwater database client that has started doing the domain analysis too
inbospatial
A thin R wrapper over Flemish geospatial services, adding one standard at a time
Fluent Bit
Fluent Bit keeps two lines alive while the 5.x branch quietly opens 5.1.
OpenCTI
OpenCTI is rebuilding its connector layer into a marketplace and wiring the platform to XTM Hub
rjd3highfreq
rjd3highfreq ships whatever the Java side ships, and only occasionally says what that was.
See all affiner alternatives → · See all bittermelon alternatives →
Recent activity from affiner and bittermelon
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agoaffinerEllipse, polygon and segment objects, with star and n-gon constructors
- 4mo agobittermelonGreyscale font reading arrives; color glyphs no longer clamp silently
- 6mo agobittermelonBitmap extraction and a supported-format predicate
- 6mo agoaffinerIntersection, equivalence and parallelism generics across geometric types
- 1y agobittermelonData frame coercion and an interactive pixel picker
- 1y agoaffinerIsocube border fill forced transparent
- 1y agoaffinerInitial release: affine grob wrappers and multi-unit angle vectors
- 2y agobittermelonEmbedded monobit removed; broader format support now needs a manual install
- 2y agobittermelonCombining-character test fixed after a Unicode package change
- 3y agobittermelonHex fonts can be read selectively by code point
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between affiner and bittermelon?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. affiner and bittermelon are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is affiner better than bittermelon?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. affiner and bittermelon are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to affiner?
Top affiner alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "affiner alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/affiner-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to bittermelon?
Top bittermelon alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "bittermelon alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bittermelon-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.