metatools
SDTM supplemental-qualifier merging got sturdier, then the package went quiet for two years.
Comparison · Analytics
charlatan vs random.cdisc.data
A side-by-side editorial comparison of charlatan and random.cdisc.data — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
charlatan vs random.cdisc.data: at a glance
What is charlatan?
R's fake-data generator rebuilt its provider hierarchy so contributors can add one locale without touching the rest.
charlatan generates realistic fake data — names, addresses, phone numbers, jobs, internet artefacts — across many locales, following the same model as faker in Python and Perl. The 0.6.1 release reworked the provider class hierarchy so locale-specific providers inherit from a parent, and 0.6.2 since has been a documentation rebuild that happened to surface a duplicate Norwegian phone number pattern. Activity is sparse and bursty.
What is random.cdisc.data?
Synthetic CDISC data generation that has been quiet since early 2024.
random.cdisc.data generates synthetic CDISC-format clinical trial datasets, used across the insightsengineering and teal packages as test and demo data. The last substantive release, 0.3.15 in March 2024, made cached-data rebuilds incremental and corrected an ETHNIC factor level. Everything older in this feed is release automation.
charlatan vs random.cdisc.data: editorial side-by-side
charlatan
0.0ANALYTICS
R's fake-data generator rebuilt its provider hierarchy so contributors can add one locale without touching the rest.
◆ Current state
charlatan generates realistic fake data — names, addresses, phone numbers, jobs, internet artefacts — across many locales, following the same model as faker in Python and Perl. The 0.6.1 release reworked the provider class hierarchy so locale-specific providers inherit from a parent, and 0.6.2 since has been a documentation rebuild that happened to surface a duplicate Norwegian phone number pattern. Activity is sparse and bursty.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's value scales with locale coverage, and its releases track that: early versions added data-type providers, middle versions added locales one contributor at a time, and 0.6.1 attacked the bottleneck by restructuring the class hierarchy so a locale can override a single function. Development has effectively been handed to contributors, with maintainer releases reduced to docs rebuilds and CRAN compliance.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next substantive release to be an accumulation of contributed locales and providers arriving through the new parent-provider structure, rather than maintainer-driven feature work.
random.cdisc.data
0.0ANALYTICS
Synthetic CDISC data generation that has been quiet since early 2024.
◆ Current state
random.cdisc.data generates synthetic CDISC-format clinical trial datasets, used across the insightsengineering and teal packages as test and demo data. The last substantive release, 0.3.15 in March 2024, made cached-data rebuilds incremental and corrected an ETHNIC factor level. Everything older in this feed is release automation.
◆ Where it's heading
Activity has thinned to one real release in the visible window, surrounded by version bumps and workflow propagation. The 0.3.15 work is maintenance-shaped — dependency floors, a data typo, faster vignette rebuilds — which is what a fixture package looks like once downstream packages depend on its output staying unchanged.
◆ Prediction
Further releases are likely to stay corrective, since the package's value to teal and tern depends on its generated datasets remaining stable rather than growing.
Alternatives to charlatan and random.cdisc.data
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 charlatan or random.cdisc.data.
marquee
marquee is filling in the typographic details — outlines, border types, real font metrics for underlines.
logrx
A clinical-script logger that stopped shipping after its 0.2 line, changelogs made of merged PRs.
lobstr
R's object inspector is losing its view of the internals as CRAN closes off the private C API.
GSODR
A weather-station data client that broke one return type to hand back distances instead of bare IDs.
giscoR
giscoR's 1.0 moved its dataset index into the cache, so new Eurostat releases arrive without a package update.
See all charlatan alternatives → · See all random.cdisc.data alternatives →
Recent activity from charlatan and random.cdisc.data
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 7mo agocharlatanDocs rebuild surfaces a duplicate Norwegian phone pattern
- 1y agocharlatanProvider classes restructured so locales can override single functions ⚡
- 2y agorandom.cdisc.dataIncremental cached-data rebuilds and an ETHNIC level fix
- 3y agorandom.cdisc.data2022_10_13
- 3y agorandom.cdisc.data2022_08_16
- 4y agorandom.cdisc.data2022_04_07
- 4y agorandom.cdisc.dataTESTING_DEPTH sets added to the generated data
- 4y agorandom.cdisc.dataTESTING_DEPTH sets added (duplicate pre-release tag)
- 6y agocharlatanNew locales and providers; allowed_locales() added
- 7y agocharlatanLocale naming standardised; French and Danish data corrected
- 8y agocharlatancharlatan v0.2.2
- 8y agocharlatanSix new providers broaden charlatan beyond names and addresses
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between charlatan and random.cdisc.data?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. charlatan and random.cdisc.data 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 charlatan better than random.cdisc.data?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. charlatan and random.cdisc.data 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 charlatan?
Top charlatan alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "charlatan alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/charlatan for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to random.cdisc.data?
Top random.cdisc.data alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "random.cdisc.data alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/random-cdisc-data for the full list with editorial commentary on each.