HydroPortailStats
France's national flood statistics, ported out of Fortran and into R.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
bkmrhat vs simDAG
A side-by-side editorial comparison of bkmrhat and simDAG — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
bkmrhat vs simDAG: at a glance
What is bkmrhat?
A parallel-chain helper for bkmr that has settled into pure upkeep.
bkmrhat wraps Bayesian kernel machine regression (bkmr) so users can run and diagnose multiple MCMC chains in parallel, then combine or continue them. The functional surface has been stable since 2022, when chain-combining picked up a low-memory path and a seed-collision bug was corrected. The most recent release adds only diagnostic metadata to the package description.
What is simDAG?
simDAG grew a second simulation engine, then spent two releases surviving upstream breakage.
simDAG generates data from directed acyclic graphs, with a library of node types covering Gaussian, binomial, Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated, ordered regression, Cox, and Aalen models. The 1.0.0 milestone opened node_cox() to arbitrary baseline hazard functions, which lets continuous time-dependent hazards drive discrete-event simulations. The two most recent releases exist only to keep the package on CRAN through breakage in lme4 and simr.
bkmrhat vs simDAG: editorial side-by-side
bkmrhat
0.0INFRA · APIS
A parallel-chain helper for bkmr that has settled into pure upkeep.
◆ Current state
bkmrhat wraps Bayesian kernel machine regression (bkmr) so users can run and diagnose multiple MCMC chains in parallel, then combine or continue them. The functional surface has been stable since 2022, when chain-combining picked up a low-memory path and a seed-collision bug was corrected. The most recent release adds only diagnostic metadata to the package description.
◆ Where it's heading
Three releases across five years, and the newest carries no user-facing change at all. The package is in maintenance: it does what it set out to do for bkmr users, and updates now arrive only when CRAN or an upstream dependency forces them.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be another compliance or dependency-driven patch rather than new functionality; the entries show no in-progress feature work.
simDAG
2.5INFRA · APIS
simDAG grew a second simulation engine, then spent two releases surviving upstream breakage.
◆ Current state
simDAG generates data from directed acyclic graphs, with a library of node types covering Gaussian, binomial, Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated, ordered regression, Cox, and Aalen models. The 1.0.0 milestone opened node_cox() to arbitrary baseline hazard functions, which lets continuous time-dependent hazards drive discrete-event simulations. The two most recent releases exist only to keep the package on CRAN through breakage in lme4 and simr.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has been widening what a simulation can represent rather than deepening any one node. Networks arrived in 0.4.0 so individuals could depend on each other, discrete-event simulation in continuous time arrived in 0.5.0 as an alternative to the discrete-time engine, and 1.0.0 connected the two by letting continuous hazards feed the event-driven path. Alongside that, node types keep accumulating for outcome families the framework could not previously generate.
◆ Prediction
Expect the node library to keep expanding into outcome types the discrete-event engine can now support, though the recent releases suggest upstream dependency churn will keep consuming release slots.
Alternatives to bkmrhat and simDAG
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 bkmrhat or simDAG.
bsvarSIGNs
Sign, zero and narrative restrictions brought into the bsvars ecosystem.
estimatr
Fast design-based estimators for experiments, coasting on CRAN patches.
ggdist
The grammar of uncertainty visualization, now drawing the uncertainty in its own estimates.
ipaddress
IP address vectors for R that hit 1.0 and then went quiet.
ltertools
A column-key toolkit for stitching decades of ecological field data into one table.
See all bkmrhat alternatives → · See all simDAG alternatives →
Recent activity from bkmrhat and simDAG
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 18d agosimDAGCRAN-retention patch for upstream lme4 breakage
- 3mo agosimDAGArbitrary baseline hazards connect node_cox() to discrete-event sims
- 4mo agosimDAGTest-only fix for an upstream simr update
- 5mo agosimDAGAdds node_polr() for ordinal outcomes and rsurv node support
- 7mo agosimDAGAdds continuous-time discrete-event simulation ⚡
- 9mo agobkmrhatDebugging metadata added to package description
- 10mo agosimDAGAdds link functions to node types and fixes a broken seed default
- 4y agobkmrhatLow-memory chain combining plus a seed-collision fix
- 5y agobkmrhatFirst release: parallel chains and continuation for bkmr
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bkmrhat and simDAG?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. simDAG 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 bkmrhat better than simDAG?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. simDAG 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 bkmrhat?
Top bkmrhat alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "bkmrhat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bkmrhat for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to simDAG?
Top simDAG alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "simDAG alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/simdag for the full list with editorial commentary on each.