STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
delaporte vs rnpn
A side-by-side editorial comparison of delaporte and rnpn — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
delaporte vs rnpn: at a glance
What is delaporte?
A Fortran-backed Delaporte distribution package where every release is compiler and CRAN weather.
Delaporte supplies the density, distribution, quantile and random-generation functions for the Delaporte distribution — a Poisson-negative-binomial convolution used for overdispersed count data — implemented in Fortran and called through C. The only user-facing addition in the visible history is explicit OpenMP thread control via getDelapThreads() and setDelapThreads() at 8.2.0.
What is rnpn?
The USA phenology data client rebuilt its entire stack and stopped handing users -9999 as a number.
rnpn is the R client for the USA National Phenology Network, retrieving observation records, phenometrics and gridded model layers. Version 1.3.0 in March 2025 replaced nearly all of its infrastructure at once — sp and raster dropped, terra made optional, XML swapped for xml2, plyr for dplyr, httr and curl for httr2 — and changed what functions return, with tibbles in place of data.tables and empty tibbles in place of NULL on error. The two releases since have completed the missing-value handling and restored performance lost in the transition.
delaporte vs rnpn: editorial side-by-side
delaporte
0.0ANALYTICS
A Fortran-backed Delaporte distribution package where every release is compiler and CRAN weather.
◆ Current state
Delaporte supplies the density, distribution, quantile and random-generation functions for the Delaporte distribution — a Poisson-negative-binomial convolution used for overdispersed count data — implemented in Fortran and called through C. The only user-facing addition in the visible history is explicit OpenMP thread control via getDelapThreads() and setDelapThreads() at 8.2.0.
◆ Where it's heading
The maintenance burden here is portability, not statistics. Recent entries track a Fortran suffix change for Intel compiler compatibility, architecture-specific test tolerances, type-safety corrections on values crossing the C-to-Fortran boundary, and a thread-count variable relocated from R options to an environment variable to follow an upstream R commit. The distribution functions themselves are settled; what changes is how the compiled code is built and checked across CRAN's platform matrix.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow another CRAN toolchain or Writing R Extensions policy change, as the last several have. Two of the four visible entries carry no notes at all, so this feed will keep understating what actually shipped.
rnpn
0.0ANALYTICS
The USA phenology data client rebuilt its entire stack and stopped handing users -9999 as a number.
◆ Current state
rnpn is the R client for the USA National Phenology Network, retrieving observation records, phenometrics and gridded model layers. Version 1.3.0 in March 2025 replaced nearly all of its infrastructure at once — sp and raster dropped, terra made optional, XML swapped for xml2, plyr for dplyr, httr and curl for httr2 — and changed what functions return, with tibbles in place of data.tables and empty tibbles in place of NULL on error. The two releases since have completed the missing-value handling and restored performance lost in the transition.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being brought onto the current R stack and made honest about missing data, and those are the same project. Converting the -9999 sentinel to NA started in 1.3.0 for download functions and was extended to all columns in 1.4.1; the string "emptyvalue" got the same treatment. Beyond the migration, the feature additions are modest and specific to the domain, such as custom start and end dates for defining a phenometrics season.
◆ Prediction
With the dependency migration finished and sentinel handling now applied across all columns, the next releases most likely return to domain features and to fixes surfaced by the server side, which has already prompted work through migrations and backend moves. The removed progress indicator is an acknowledged regression that may come back.
Alternatives to delaporte and rnpn
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 delaporte or rnpn.
ggtrace
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
kde1d
A univariate density estimator that added zero-inflated data and reopened its C++ API to do it.
svines
Stationary vine copulas for time series, released in lockstep with the rest of Nagler's vine stack.
gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
rtrek
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
See all delaporte alternatives → · See all rnpn alternatives →
Recent activity from delaporte and rnpn
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 11mo agornpnSentinel -9999 now converted to NA across all columns
- 1y agodelaporteThread limit moves to an environment variable; Fortran type checks tightened
- 1y agornpnCustom season windows for phenometrics, and a speed regression fixed
- 1y agornpnDependency stack and return types replaced wholesale ⚡
- 1y agornpnBackfilled notes for seven earlier maintenance releases
- 3y agodelaporteExplicit OpenMP thread control functions added
- 3y agodelaporteCRAN release 8.1.1
- 3y agodelaporteCRAN release 8.1.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between delaporte and rnpn?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. delaporte and rnpn 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 delaporte better than rnpn?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. delaporte and rnpn 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 delaporte?
Top delaporte alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "delaporte alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/delaporte for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rnpn?
Top rnpn alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rnpn alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rnpn for the full list with editorial commentary on each.