trackeR
Fitness-tracking analysis in slow maintenance, still absorbing upstream breakage.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of coga and emuR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
A gamma-convolution density package that reached completion in 2018 and has coasted since.
coga computes densities, distribution functions and random numbers for convolutions of gamma distributions, with the numerical work in C++ through Rcpp. It has been feature-complete since 1.0.0 in 2018, and every release in the seven years since has been maintenance: a documentation alias for CRAN, a compiler warning, a maintainer email change, and an Rcpp update requiring Rf_error calls to be guarded. The one functional addition in that period, in 1.1.0, was an unexported function added explicitly for research use.
The R half of the EMU speech database system, fixing what was quietly broken.
emuR is the R interface to the EMU Speech Database Management System — loading annotated speech corpora, running hierarchical queries over annotation levels, extracting signal track data, and serving corpora to the EMU-webApp for browser-based annotation. It is at 2.6.0 on a slow cadence of roughly one release a year. Recent work has centred on the CRUD operations for annotation items and on widening what serve() can hand the web application.
coga computes densities, distribution functions and random numbers for convolutions of gamma distributions, with the numerical work in C++ through Rcpp. It has been feature-complete since 1.0.0 in 2018, and every release in the seven years since has been maintenance: a documentation alias for CRAN, a compiler warning, a maintainer email change, and an Rcpp update requiring Rf_error calls to be guarded. The one functional addition in that period, in 1.1.0, was an unexported function added explicitly for research use.
This is a finished package being kept alive rather than developed. The releases track external pressure exactly: CRAN documentation requirements, compiler warnings, Rcpp API changes. Its maintenance is visibly shared with smam, the same maintainer's animal-movement package, which received the same email update, the same format-security fix and the same Rcpp guard within a minute or twenty of coga each time. Neither package is being extended; both are being kept installable.
Expect nothing but CRAN and toolchain maintenance, arriving whenever Rcpp or R's check requirements change, and arriving alongside smam. There is no signal in these entries of planned functional work.
emuR is the R interface to the EMU Speech Database Management System — loading annotated speech corpora, running hierarchical queries over annotation levels, extracting signal track data, and serving corpora to the EMU-webApp for browser-based annotation. It is at 2.6.0 on a slow cadence of roughly one release a year. Recent work has centred on the CRUD operations for annotation items and on widening what serve() can hand the web application.
The releases read as a package being brought up to the standard its own API implied. delete_itemsInLevel() shipped in 2.1.1 as a first version, was described in 2.5.0 as heavily flawed and now usable, and the create/update/delete family is still called ongoing work. Alongside that, the query engine was rewritten onto CTEs and the signal-processing layer is being opened past the bundled wrassp, starting with Matlab. Speed work recurs — SQLite transactions, prepared statements, on-the-fly caching — consistent with corpora outgrowing the original design.
Two threads are explicitly unfinished: the CRUD documentation and behaviour, described as ongoing, and the add_signalVia family, described as a draft starting with Matlab. Expect the next release to advance one of them rather than open new ground.
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 coga or emuR.
Fitness-tracking analysis in slow maintenance, still absorbing upstream breakage.
State-panel tooling holding steady since its 2020 data and ergonomics release.
Five years of compiler and CRAN fixes on a capture-recapture package.
A first release that turns meta-analytic heterogeneity into interpretable subgroups.
A meta-analysis toolkit still renaming its own API as it adds effect sizes.
Recurrent-event modelling settles, with mean_no() promoted to stable.
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. coga and emuR 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.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. coga and emuR 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
Top coga alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "coga alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/coga for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top emuR alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "emuR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/emur for the full list with editorial commentary on each.