nflreadr
The nflverse data loader, whose releases are dictated by the NFL calendar and CRAN's archive policy
Comparison · Analytics
e2tree vs probmed
A side-by-side editorial comparison of e2tree and probmed — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
e2tree vs probmed: at a glance
What is e2tree?
The explainable-ensemble-tree package now measures whether its own explanations are faithful.
e2tree builds a single interpretable tree that approximates a fitted ensemble, working from the proximity structure the ensemble induces between observations. The 1.0.0 release added the piece that had been missing: a Goodness of Interpretability index quantifying how well the approximating tree reconstructs the ensemble's own proximity matrix, with a permutation test for significance. Interactive visualisation and a C++ backend with OpenMP parallelism arrived alongside, and support now spans ranger and CatBoost as well as the original targets.
What is probmed?
probmed went from one probabilistic effect size to a family of them in sixteen days.
probmed computes P_med, a scale-free probabilistic effect size for causal mediation, as part of the Data-Wise mediationverse alongside medfit, medsim and RMediation. Three releases in three weeks took it from a single estimator to four additional families built on a shared cross-fitted corner-EIF core, covering gauge-calibrated, incremental-elasticity and Sobol variance-share versions of the proportion mediated. Distribution is GitHub and r-universe rather than CRAN, with a load-bearing Remotes pin on medfit.
e2tree vs probmed: editorial side-by-side
e2tree
0.0ANALYTICS
The explainable-ensemble-tree package now measures whether its own explanations are faithful.
◆ Current state
e2tree builds a single interpretable tree that approximates a fitted ensemble, working from the proximity structure the ensemble induces between observations. The 1.0.0 release added the piece that had been missing: a Goodness of Interpretability index quantifying how well the approximating tree reconstructs the ensemble's own proximity matrix, with a permutation test for significance. Interactive visualisation and a C++ backend with OpenMP parallelism arrived alongside, and support now spans ranger and CatBoost as well as the original targets.
◆ Where it's heading
Development has moved from producing an explanation to defending it. The GoI index and its permutation test change the package's claim from here is a tree that resembles your ensemble to here is how closely it resembles it and whether that could have happened by chance — the question a reviewer asks of any surrogate model. Around that, the work is engineering: the proximity matrix construction moved from R-level parallel loops into C++ with thread-level parallelism, and recent releases have been absorbing the awkwardness of supporting multiple ensemble backends, where a multi-class CatBoost objective returns a score matrix where a vector was expected. Interactive visNetwork output and standalone HTML export point at explanations meant to be shared rather than only inspected.
◆ Prediction
Given how much recent effort has gone into per-backend adapters, expect further work on ensemble compatibility; the entries do not indicate whether the interpretability index is heading toward comparing surrogate trees against each other.
probmed
0.0ANALYTICS
probmed went from one probabilistic effect size to a family of them in sixteen days.
◆ Current state
probmed computes P_med, a scale-free probabilistic effect size for causal mediation, as part of the Data-Wise mediationverse alongside medfit, medsim and RMediation. Three releases in three weeks took it from a single estimator to four additional families built on a shared cross-fitted corner-EIF core, covering gauge-calibrated, incremental-elasticity and Sobol variance-share versions of the proportion mediated. Distribution is GitHub and r-universe rather than CRAN, with a load-bearing Remotes pin on medfit.
◆ Where it's heading
The pace is manuscript-driven — estimators arrive with their citations attached and vignettes alongside, and the 0.1.0 notes correct the estimand itself against a manuscript definition rather than fixing a bug in code. Each release adds inference machinery as well as point estimates: percentile-bootstrap intervals and Fieller sets in 0.3.0, a deterministic MBCO interval in 0.2.0 that avoids resampling entirely. The gauge residual and the pmed_sensitivity() helper suggest a growing concern with when the estimand does not decompose at all.
◆ Prediction
0.3.0 shipped a sensitivity helper for shared mediator-outcome confounding and a diagnostic that flags non-decomposability, so the next release most likely extends that diagnostic side rather than adding a fifth estimator family.
Alternatives to e2tree and probmed
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 e2tree or probmed.
susier
Fine-mapping workhorse susieR spends its releases hunting null-effect trimming bugs
UCell
A rank-based gene signature scorer that has grown by adapting to whatever object format single-cell R uses next
detectseparation
A diagnostic package that generalized past its own name, then learned to say which kind of separation it found
brglm2
A bias-reduction package reaches 1.0 by adding an estimator built for high-dimensional logistic regression
bayestools
The JAGS toolkit under RoBMA, shipping the standardization machinery its downstream rewrite needed
See all e2tree alternatives → · See all probmed alternatives →
Recent activity from e2tree and probmed
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoprobmedFour estimator families on a cross-fitted corner-EIF core ⚡
- 2mo agoprobmedParallel mediators and a resampling-free MBCO interval ⚡
- 2mo agoprobmedFirst release: pmed() with the estimand corrected
- 3mo agoe2treeCatBoost multi-class and loss-function handling repaired
- 4mo agoe2treeA significance-tested measure of explanation fidelity ⚡
- 1y agoe2treeranger models supported
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between e2tree and probmed?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. e2tree and probmed 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 e2tree better than probmed?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. e2tree and probmed 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 e2tree?
Top e2tree alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "e2tree alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/e2tree for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to probmed?
Top probmed alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "probmed alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/probmed for the full list with editorial commentary on each.