constants
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
Comparison · Analytics
bittermelon vs qqman
A side-by-side editorial comparison of bittermelon and qqman — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
bittermelon vs qqman: at a glance
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.
What is qqman?
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
qqman does two things: manhattan() and qq() plots for genome-wide association study results. Its six visible releases run from 2014 to a single 2017 packaging fix, and the last release with any user-facing change shipped in 2015. The archive is non-monotonic — a 0.0.0 tag published after 0.1.1 archives the pre-package standalone script — so version order and publication order disagree.
bittermelon vs qqman: editorial side-by-side
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.
qqman
0.0ANALYTICS
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
◆ Current state
qqman does two things: manhattan() and qq() plots for genome-wide association study results. Its six visible releases run from 2014 to a single 2017 packaging fix, and the last release with any user-facing change shipped in 2015. The archive is non-monotonic — a 0.0.0 tag published after 0.1.1 archives the pre-package standalone script — so version order and publication order disagree.
◆ Where it's heading
The real development window was 2014 to 2015. The 0.1.2 release did the substantive work, replacing the assumption that SNPs are evenly distributed across chromosomes and handing users control of axis limits, labels and log transformation; 0.1.3 then added annotation by p-value threshold and top-SNP-per-chromosome. After that the package stops. Notably, the archival 0.0.0 entry records that the original script had confidence intervals on QQ plots and richer highlighting than the released package ever regained.
◆ Prediction
With one packaging fix in the last decade, these entries support no prediction of further releases. The package reads as complete for its narrow purpose rather than abandoned mid-arc.
Alternatives to bittermelon and qqman
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 bittermelon or qqman.
austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
See all bittermelon alternatives → · See all qqman alternatives →
Recent activity from bittermelon and qqman
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agobittermelonGreyscale font reading arrives; color glyphs no longer clamp silently
- 6mo agobittermelonBitmap extraction and a supported-format predicate
- 1y agobittermelonData frame coercion and an interactive pixel picker
- 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
- 9y agoqqmanREADME image path fix for pandoc
- 11y agoqqmanAnnotate SNPs by p-value threshold or per-chromosome top hit
- 11y agoqqmanChromosome ticks stop assuming even SNP spacing; axis control opens up
- 12y agoqqmanArchival tag for the pre-package standalone script
- 12y agoqqmanVignette touch-up
- 12y agoqqmanZenodo archival tag, no code change
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bittermelon and qqman?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. bittermelon and qqman 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 bittermelon better than qqman?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. bittermelon and qqman 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to qqman?
Top qqman alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "qqman alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/qqman-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.