qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
constants vs spatstat
A side-by-side editorial comparison of constants and spatstat — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
constants vs spatstat: 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 spatstat?
The spatstat umbrella package, now mostly a pointer to the sub-packages doing the work
spatstat is the front package of a family that was split into specialised components — spatstat.geom, spatstat.random, spatstat.model, spatstat.explore, spatstat.univar and spatstat.sparse. Its own release notes reflect that: entries in this window are largely announcements of where the real changes landed, plus documentation and cross-reference maintenance. The codebase it fronts passed 200,000 lines as of 3.5-1.
constants vs spatstat: 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.
spatstat
0.0ANALYTICS
The spatstat umbrella package, now mostly a pointer to the sub-packages doing the work
◆ Current state
spatstat is the front package of a family that was split into specialised components — spatstat.geom, spatstat.random, spatstat.model, spatstat.explore, spatstat.univar and spatstat.sparse. Its own release notes reflect that: entries in this window are largely announcements of where the real changes landed, plus documentation and cross-reference maintenance. The codebase it fronts passed 200,000 lines as of 3.5-1.
◆ Where it's heading
The split is effectively complete and the umbrella's role has settled into coordination — tracking version dependencies across sub-packages and pointing users to them. The family has kept subdividing over this period, with spatstat.univar joining in 3.1-0. The one substantive user-facing addition here is documentation infrastructure: 3.3-0 added the ability to list the history of changes to a specific function, which is a navigational answer to a codebase now spread across many packages.
◆ Prediction
Expect this package's notes to continue summarising sub-package activity rather than carrying features of its own, since every release in this window does exactly that. Read spatstat.geom, spatstat.random and spatstat.model for the substance.
Alternatives to constants and spatstat
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 spatstat.
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 spatstat alternatives →
Recent activity from constants and spatstat
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agospatstatSub-package updates across sparse, univar and random
- 6mo agospatstatspatstat passes 200,000 lines of code
- 10mo agospatstatNew vignette documenting NA spatial objects
- 1y agospatstatPer-function change history now listable
- 2y agospatstatspatstat.univar joins the package family
- 3y agospatstatSub-package cross-references and docs corrected
- 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 spatstat?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. constants and spatstat 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 spatstat?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. constants and spatstat 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 spatstat?
Top spatstat alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spatstat alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spatstat-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.