qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
constants vs omopsketch
A side-by-side editorial comparison of constants and omopsketch — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
constants vs omopsketch: at a glance
What is constants?
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
constants exposes the CODATA recommended values of the physical constants to R, as a data frame plus symbol lists that carry units, uncertainties, or both. The package reached 1.0.0 on the 2018 CODATA release and has shipped once since, purely to track a units package update. Its surface is small and its release cadence is bound to CODATA, which revises every few years.
What is omopsketch?
Health-data characterisation tooling maturing through steady issue-by-issue tightening.
OmopSketch summarises and characterises OMOP Common Data Model databases — clinical records, observation periods, concept counts and missing data. Recent releases have tightened the semantics of those summaries: only records within observation are counted, study ranges are trimmed consistently, and a collect() was removed so more of the work stays in the database. Development is dominated by a single contributor working through numbered issues.
constants vs omopsketch: editorial side-by-side
constants
0.0ANALYTICS
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
◆ Current state
constants exposes the CODATA recommended values of the physical constants to R, as a data frame plus symbol lists that carry units, uncertainties, or both. The package reached 1.0.0 on the 2018 CODATA release and has shipped once since, purely to track a units package update. Its surface is small and its release cadence is bound to CODATA, which revises every few years.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction set at 1.0.0 was to stop being a curated convenience wrapper and become a mechanical mirror of NIST. Hand-crafted symbol names were replaced with NIST's own ASCII symbols, categories adopted NIST's, and uncertainty switched from relative to absolute — all framed by the maintainer as necessary to make future CODATA updates routine. On top of that the package gained a correlation matrix and optional integration with the quantities package, moving it from a lookup table toward something that can propagate uncertainty.
◆ Prediction
Having rebuilt the symbol table specifically so CODATA revisions become mechanical, the next substantive release most likely tracks a new CODATA dataset rather than adding API. The experimental correlated-value support, disabled by default at 1.0.0, is the one part these entries flag as unfinished.
omopsketch
0.0ANALYTICS
Health-data characterisation tooling maturing through steady issue-by-issue tightening.
◆ Current state
OmopSketch summarises and characterises OMOP Common Data Model databases — clinical records, observation periods, concept counts and missing data. Recent releases have tightened the semantics of those summaries: only records within observation are counted, study ranges are trimmed consistently, and a collect() was removed so more of the work stays in the database. Development is dominated by a single contributor working through numbered issues.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is moving from producing summaries toward producing defensible ones. Interval-based arguments replaced the narrower year argument, table output gained a datatable option, and the vignette now demonstrates a full characterisation feeding a Shiny app. The pattern is refinement of existing summarise* functions rather than new analytic surface.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued tightening of the summarise* family and its table output options; with only three releases visible, the cadence itself is hard to read.
Alternatives to constants and omopsketch
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 constants or omopsketch.
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 constants alternatives → · See all omopsketch alternatives →
Recent activity from constants and omopsketch
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agoomopsketchKeeps clinical-record summaries in the database
- 1y agoomopsketchInterval arguments replace year; counts restricted to observation
- 1y agoomopsketchBug fixes and dateRange semantics clarified
- 5y agoconstantsCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 5y agoconstantsconstants 1.0.0 ⚡
- 8y agoconstantsUnit handling fixes ahead of the 1.0.0 rebuild
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between constants and omopsketch?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. constants and omopsketch 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 constants better than omopsketch?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. constants and omopsketch 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 constants?
Top constants alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "constants alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/constants-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to omopsketch?
Top omopsketch alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "omopsketch alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/omopsketch for the full list with editorial commentary on each.