gps2gtfs
gps2gtfs spent a release making its docs stop describing functions it does not have.
Comparison · Analytics
constants vs pedFamilias
A side-by-side editorial comparison of constants and pedFamilias — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
constants vs pedFamilias: 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 pedFamilias?
pedFamilias exists to read one legacy file format, and it has that job nearly finished.
pedFamilias holds the Familias file interoperability code that was split out of forrel, principally readFam() and writeFam(). The visible history is short and narrow: URL paths accepted as input, a deduplicate option for files produced by the Familias DVI module, better handling of extra individuals, and a fallback mutation model when stabilization fails. The most recent release is explicitly maintenance.
constants vs pedFamilias: 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.
pedFamilias
0.0ANALYTICS
pedFamilias exists to read one legacy file format, and it has that job nearly finished.
◆ Current state
pedFamilias holds the Familias file interoperability code that was split out of forrel, principally readFam() and writeFam(). The visible history is short and narrow: URL paths accepted as input, a deduplicate option for files produced by the Familias DVI module, better handling of extra individuals, and a fallback mutation model when stabilization fails. The most recent release is explicitly maintenance.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a package with a bounded remit. The format it parses does not change, so releases arrive only when someone encounters a file it mishandles, and the fixes are correspondingly specific. The interesting movement is upstream instead: forrel finally removed its deprecated readFam() re-export in 1.9.0, completing the split that created this package.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued low-frequency maintenance driven by real-world .fam files rather than any planned feature work.
Alternatives to constants and pedFamilias
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 pedFamilias.
ducksemantics
ducksemantics puts an ontology graph and ColBERT retrieval inside DuckDB, callable from R.
dvir
dvir keeps making disaster victim identification a single call instead of a workflow.
pedbuildr
pedbuildr reconstructs pedigrees from DNA, and it just got much faster at the search.
forrel
forrel is getting faster at the simulations forensic kinship work actually spends its time on.
pedmut
pedmut turns awkward mutation models into ones the likelihood engine can actually handle.
See all constants alternatives → · See all pedFamilias alternatives →
Recent activity from constants and pedFamilias
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agopedFamiliasMaintenance release
- 1y agopedFamiliasreadFam() accepts URLs
- 2y agopedFamiliasExtra-individual parsing and mutation model fallback
- 2y agopedFamiliasdeduplicate option for Familias DVI files
- 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 pedFamilias?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. constants and pedFamilias 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 pedFamilias?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. constants and pedFamilias 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 pedFamilias?
Top pedFamilias alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "pedFamilias alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/pedfamilias for the full list with editorial commentary on each.