mlr3mbo
mlr3mbo picked its defaults from a benchmark study, not from taste
Comparison · Analytics
discrim vs readxl
A side-by-side editorial comparison of discrim and readxl — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
discrim vs readxl: at a glance
What is discrim?
discrim settled into a thin engine shim after handing its model definitions to parsnip.
discrim is the parsnip extension for discriminant analysis, exposing linear, quadratic, flexible and regularized variants through the tidymodels interface. Its model definition functions moved into parsnip itself in 0.2.0, leaving this package as the engine and prediction layer. The two most recent releases are a documentation fix and a single prediction bug.
What is readxl?
readxl has shipped almost nothing but vendored-dependency upkeep since 2022.
readxl reads Excel files into R without requiring Excel, bundling the libxls and RapidXML C libraries. Four of its last six releases state outright that they contain no user-facing changes, existing instead to satisfy CRAN, silence a sanitizer warning, or re-embed a patched libxls.
discrim vs readxl: editorial side-by-side
discrim
0.0ANALYTICS
discrim settled into a thin engine shim after handing its model definitions to parsnip.
◆ Current state
discrim is the parsnip extension for discriminant analysis, exposing linear, quadratic, flexible and regularized variants through the tidymodels interface. Its model definition functions moved into parsnip itself in 0.2.0, leaving this package as the engine and prediction layer. The two most recent releases are a documentation fix and a single prediction bug.
◆ Where it's heading
The package built out method coverage early, adding quadratic discriminant analysis in 0.1.2, the sda and sparsediscrim engines in 0.1.3 and case weights in 1.0.0, then stopped growing. Handing definitions upstream to parsnip in 0.2.0 confirmed the shape: discrim is where engines are wired, not where the API lives. Cadence since 2022 is roughly one small fix a year.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in the entries points to new methods or engines; the next release is most likely another CRAN or prediction-path fix.
readxl
0.0ANALYTICS
readxl has shipped almost nothing but vendored-dependency upkeep since 2022.
◆ Current state
readxl reads Excel files into R without requiring Excel, bundling the libxls and RapidXML C libraries. Four of its last six releases state outright that they contain no user-facing changes, existing instead to satisfy CRAN, silence a sanitizer warning, or re-embed a patched libxls.
◆ Where it's heading
The real work has become stewardship of vendored C code: absorbing libxls security fixes and keeping the package compiling across Alpine, UBSAN and successive cpp11 versions. 1.5.0 breaks the streak only slightly, with a network-drive permission warning fix and a cpp11 floor raised to dodge a segfault.
◆ Prediction
Expect the same rhythm — releases triggered by toolchain breakage or an upstream libxls patch rather than new spreadsheet-reading capability.
Alternatives to discrim and readxl
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 discrim or readxl.
loo
loo keeps rewriting the diagnostics Bayesian modellers read off model comparison
mlr3fselect
mlr3fselect turned feature selection into an asynchronous, distributable job
lime
lime survives on compatibility patches years after its research moment
mlr3measures
mlr3measures is systematically retrofitting sample weights across every metric
mlr3cluster
mlr3cluster went from a handful of clusterers to covering the field
See all discrim alternatives → · See all readxl alternatives →
Recent activity from discrim and readxl
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agoreadxlreadxl 1.5.0 stops false access-denied warnings on network drives
- 8mo agodiscrimFix for FDA models failing at prediction time
- 11mo agodiscrimDocumentation links updated to stay on CRAN
- 1y agoreadxlreadxl 1.4.5 clears a gcc UBSAN warning
- 1y agoreadxlreadxl 1.4.4 embeds libxls 1.6.3 with vulnerability fixes
- 3y agoreadxlreadxl 1.4.3 ships with no user-facing changes
- 3y agoreadxlreadxl 1.4.2 embeds a libxls build fixing CVE-2021-27836
- 3y agoreadxlreadxl 1.4.1 regenerates help files for valid HTML5
- 4y agodiscrimCase weights enabled for flexible and linear discriminant models
- 4y agodiscrimModel definitions moved upstream into parsnip
- 5y agodiscrimsda and sparsediscrim engines added for LDA and QDA
- 5y agodiscrimdiscrim_quad() added; package relicensed to MIT ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between discrim and readxl?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. discrim and readxl 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 discrim better than readxl?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. discrim and readxl 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 discrim?
Top discrim alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "discrim alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/discrim for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to readxl?
Top readxl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "readxl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/readxl for the full list with editorial commentary on each.