simlandr
Potential landscape tooling settling onto standard R generics after two rounds of renaming.
Comparison · Analytics
effectplots vs splines2
A side-by-side editorial comparison of effectplots and splines2 — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
effectplots vs splines2: at a glance
What is effectplots?
A young ALE and PDP plotting package that rebuilt its numeric core after a data-corrupting bug.
effectplots computes and plots partial dependence, ALE, and observed-versus-predicted effect curves for fitted models. It reached CRAN in November 2024 and shipped three releases in the four months after. The 0.2.0 release is the pivot: an outlier-clipping routine that silently modified the caller's data frame was fixed, the numeric path was rewritten for speed and memory, and the plotting and category-collapsing defaults were reset.
What is splines2?
Spline bases built to interoperate: periodic B-splines and an nsk-compatible natural basis.
splines2 provides spline basis functions with their derivatives and integrals, in R and through an Rcpp interface. The 0.5.0 release in mid-2023 set the package's current surface; the four releases since are a correctness fix for natural cubic splines with one internal knot, a plotting argument, a compiler warning, and a documentation repair.
effectplots vs splines2: editorial side-by-side
effectplots
0.0ANALYTICS
A young ALE and PDP plotting package that rebuilt its numeric core after a data-corrupting bug.
◆ Current state
effectplots computes and plots partial dependence, ALE, and observed-versus-predicted effect curves for fitted models. It reached CRAN in November 2024 and shipped three releases in the four months after. The 0.2.0 release is the pivot: an outlier-clipping routine that silently modified the caller's data frame was fixed, the numeric path was rewritten for speed and memory, and the plotting and category-collapsing defaults were reset.
◆ Where it's heading
After 0.2.0 the work turns to the awkward cases - missing values on the x axis, explicit and empty factor levels, discrete grid detection. The package is also widening past a single modelling ecosystem: h2o support and tidymodels examples arrived with 0.2.0, and fcut() was exported as a fast replacement for cut(). Release notes are issue-numbered throughout, so the roadmap is effectively the issue tracker.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued default tuning around collapse_m and discrete_m plus more model-backend coverage; the cadence points to another batch of issue fixes rather than a new plot type.
splines2
0.0ANALYTICS
Spline bases built to interoperate: periodic B-splines and an nsk-compatible natural basis.
◆ Current state
splines2 provides spline basis functions with their derivatives and integrals, in R and through an Rcpp interface. The 0.5.0 release in mid-2023 set the package's current surface; the four releases since are a correctness fix for natural cubic splines with one internal knot, a plotting argument, a compiler warning, and a documentation repair.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is interoperability rather than new mathematics. 0.5.0 added nsk() to match survival::nsk(), an H matrix for converting cubic B-splines produced elsewhere into this package's natural splines, and short aliases meant to be typed inside model formulas. Periodic B-splines were the one genuinely new basis, and its Rcpp knot-sequence handling needed a follow-up fix. Wenjie Wang maintains it alongside intsurv and reda.
◆ Prediction
The last four releases are all corrections, so the next one most likely continues that pattern; a further basis type would break a two-year run of consolidation.
Alternatives to effectplots and splines2
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 effectplots or splines2.
lavaanExtra
SEM reporting helpers converging on APA output, one CRAN resubmission at a time.
ibis.iSDM
A raster-to-terra migration is the only readable change in a feed of merge notes.
anyflights
A nycflights13 generator whose recent work is all about the data being right.
vinereg
Conditional density and log-likelihood fill out a vine copula regression package.
stringx
A drop-in string API for base R, kept alive by upstream check failures.
See all effectplots alternatives → · See all splines2 alternatives →
Recent activity from effectplots and splines2
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agoeffectplotsRare categories collapse into an 'other' level
- 1y agosplines2Natural cubic splines fixed for a single internal knot
- 1y agoeffectplotsMissing x values now plotted for numeric features
- 1y agoeffectplotsNumeric core rewritten after an in-place data corruption fix ⚡
- 1y agoeffectplotsInitial CRAN release
- 2y agosplines2C++20 constructor template warning suppressed
- 2y agosplines2plot() accepts a coefficient vector
- 2y agosplines2Broken package-level documentation repaired
- 3y agosplines2Periodic B-splines, nsk(), and a basis conversion matrix ⚡
- 3y agosplines2Periodic M-spline knot sequence fixed in the Rcpp interface
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between effectplots and splines2?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. effectplots and splines2 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 effectplots better than splines2?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. effectplots and splines2 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 effectplots?
Top effectplots alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "effectplots alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/effectplots for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to splines2?
Top splines2 alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "splines2 alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/splines2 for the full list with editorial commentary on each.