tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
chromer vs Tplyr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of chromer and Tplyr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
chromer vs Tplyr: at a glance
What is chromer?
A chromosome-count database client that only ever ships when the upstream API moves.
chromer is a thin R client for the Chromosome Counts Database. Every release in the past three years is maintenance: a new maintainer and licence change in 0.3, test-skipping when the upstream service is down in 0.4, and two separate releases whose entire content is that the database's URL changed again. The current 0.10 points at ccdb.tau.ac.il/services/.
What is Tplyr?
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
chromer vs Tplyr: editorial side-by-side
chromer
0.0ANALYTICS
A chromosome-count database client that only ever ships when the upstream API moves.
◆ Current state
chromer is a thin R client for the Chromosome Counts Database. Every release in the past three years is maintenance: a new maintainer and licence change in 0.3, test-skipping when the upstream service is down in 0.4, and two separate releases whose entire content is that the database's URL changed again. The current 0.10 points at ccdb.tau.ac.il/services/.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is functionally complete and externally driven — its release cadence is a record of the CCDB's hosting history rather than of any development plan. The defensive work in 0.4, which added an internal check for whether the database is down and skips tests accordingly, shows the maintainer treating upstream instability as the permanent condition rather than an incident.
◆ Prediction
The next release will most likely be triggered by another CCDB endpoint or format change; nothing in the history suggests new functionality is planned.
Tplyr
0.0ANALYTICS
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
◆ Current state
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
◆ Where it's heading
Post-1.0 work has been about completing the metadata story and filling gaps in layer composition rather than adding table types — metadata for missing subjects, add_anti_join(), missing-subject rows, data limiting, and fixes to nested count layers where an inner value appears under several outer groups. Releases cluster tightly after a major version, then go quiet, and the window ends with a patch issued days after the release it corrects.
◆ Prediction
Further releases will most likely continue closing traceability and nested-layer edge cases rather than introducing new layer types, following the pattern of both post-1.0 feature releases.
Alternatives to chromer and Tplyr
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 chromer or Tplyr.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all chromer alternatives → · See all Tplyr alternatives →
Recent activity from chromer and Tplyr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agochromerChromosome Counts Database endpoint moved again
- 2y agochromerDatabase URL updated after upstream move
- 2y agoTplyrMissing-subject metadata, add_anti_join(), and nested-layer fixes
- 2y agochromerAPI calls switched to https
- 2y agochromerDocumentation tweak for a CRAN check
- 3y agochromerTests skipped when the upstream database is down
- 3y agoTplyrMetadata vignette fix and parenthesis hugging
- 3y agoTplyrDenominator logic fix ahead of CRAN release
- 3y agochromerNew maintainer; licence changes from CC0 to MIT
- 3y agoTplyrReverse-dependency fix
- 3y agoTplyr1.0.0 introduces the traceability metadata framework ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between chromer and Tplyr?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. chromer and Tplyr 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 chromer better than Tplyr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. chromer and Tplyr 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 chromer?
Top chromer alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "chromer alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/chromer for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Tplyr?
Top Tplyr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Tplyr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tplyr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.