rollupTree
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Comparison · Infra & APIs
artoo vs samplr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of artoo and samplr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
artoo vs samplr: at a glance
What is artoo?
artoo makes any-to-any clinical dataset conversion lossless by construction.
artoo reads and writes SAS XPORT, CDISC Dataset-JSON, NDJSON, Parquet and RDS around one canonical metadata model, so a conversion between any two formats carries labels, CDISC types, lengths, display formats, controlled-terminology references and sort keys intact. It is pure R with no SAS or Java runtime. It reached CRAN at 0.1.1 and has spent 0.1.2 and 0.1.3 on the character-encoding edges.
What is samplr?
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
samplr compares human performance against sampling algorithms, giving cognitive scientists the MCMC machinery to test whether people behave like samplers. Its entire public history is three releases: a 1.0.0 in August 2024, a floating-point fix eighteen seconds later, and then nothing until a February 2026 patch. The release notes are unusually thin even by CRAN standards.
artoo vs samplr: editorial side-by-side
artoo
2.5INFRA · APIS
artoo makes any-to-any clinical dataset conversion lossless by construction.
◆ Current state
artoo reads and writes SAS XPORT, CDISC Dataset-JSON, NDJSON, Parquet and RDS around one canonical metadata model, so a conversion between any two formats carries labels, CDISC types, lengths, display formats, controlled-terminology references and sort keys intact. It is pure R with no SAS or Java runtime. It reached CRAN at 0.1.1 and has spent 0.1.2 and 0.1.3 on the character-encoding edges.
◆ Where it's heading
Recent work is all about text that does not survive a format change. 0.1.3 adds an invalid_encoding dimension to artoo_checks() that flags bytes which are not valid UTF-8 before a writer aborts on them, accepts the SAS OEM/DOS encoding names, and gives the writers on_invalid = "translit" and "fold" so smart punctuation and accented characters resolve to pinned ASCII instead of failing. The fold tables ship as data specifically so the result is identical on every platform, which is the same determinism argument behind C-locale row sorting in 0.1.0.
◆ Prediction
The new WLATIN1-to-UTF-8 migration article and the width warning on write_xpt() point the next attention at length and truncation semantics rather than at additional formats. These notes name no further target format.
samplr
0.0INFRA · APIS
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
◆ Current state
samplr compares human performance against sampling algorithms, giving cognitive scientists the MCMC machinery to test whether people behave like samplers. Its entire public history is three releases: a 1.0.0 in August 2024, a floating-point fix eighteen seconds later, and then nothing until a February 2026 patch. The release notes are unusually thin even by CRAN standards.
◆ Where it's heading
The feed shows a package that shipped and stopped. The 2024 tags were both created in one sitting and say almost nothing; the 2026 release is a row-count bug in Mean_Variance() bundled with citation metadata, a dropped dependency and http-to-https link fixes — the housekeeping profile of a package being kept alive for the paper that cites it rather than actively developed.
◆ Prediction
Adding citation information to the README is usually the move of a maintainer expecting the package to be referenced rather than extended. On this cadence the next release is more likely another CRAN-hygiene patch than new algorithms; there is not enough in these notes to say otherwise.
Alternatives to artoo and samplr
Other Infra & APIs 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 artoo or samplr.
massProps
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
writeAlizer
Six months of releases and not one of them touched the scoring models
stochvol
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
midr
A black-box interpreter reaches CRAN, then learns multi-class and survival responses
GeoThinneR
Spatial thinning grows a result object, and the API breaks to make room for it
See all artoo alternatives → · See all samplr alternatives →
Recent activity from artoo and samplr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 28d agoartooEncoding checks and translit/fold modes for the writers
- 1mo agoartoonoLD check fix; codec unchanged
- 2mo agoartooInitial CRAN release after resubmission
- 2mo agoartooLossless any-to-any CDISC dataset conversion in pure R ⚡
- 5mo agosamplrMean_Variance() row count corrected after eighteen months
- 1y agosamplrFloating point comparison fix
- 1y agosamplrsamplr 1.0.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between artoo and samplr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. artoo is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is artoo better than samplr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. artoo is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to artoo?
Top artoo alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "artoo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/artoo for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to samplr?
Top samplr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "samplr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/samplr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.