tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
Comparison · Analytics
errors vs quantities
A side-by-side editorial comparison of errors and quantities — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
errors vs quantities: at a glance
What is errors?
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
errors attaches uncertainty to numeric vectors and propagates it automatically through arithmetic, as part of the r-quantities family alongside units. The propagation core is settled; recent releases concentrate on presentation and integration — PDG rounding rules in 0.4.2, decimal support in parenthesis notation in 0.4.3, and ggplot2 deprecation tracking in 0.4.1 and 0.4.4.
What is quantities?
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
errors vs quantities: editorial side-by-side
errors
0.0ANALYTICS
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
◆ Current state
errors attaches uncertainty to numeric vectors and propagates it automatically through arithmetic, as part of the r-quantities family alongside units. The propagation core is settled; recent releases concentrate on presentation and integration — PDG rounding rules in 0.4.2, decimal support in parenthesis notation in 0.4.3, and ggplot2 deprecation tracking in 0.4.1 and 0.4.4.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run through this history. One is formatting convergence: uncertainty has field-specific conventions, and the package has been absorbing them one contributed pull request at a time rather than imposing a single style. The other is keeping the errors class first-class everywhere R users work — vctrs methods for dplyr 1.0, a geom_errors() layer for ggplot2, missing-value and duplicate handling. Both are integration work, which is what a type-extension package mostly is.
◆ Prediction
Expect further formatting conventions to arrive as contributions, following PDG rounding and the decimals option, plus continued upkeep against ggplot2 aesthetic deprecations that have forced two of the last four releases.
quantities
0.0ANALYTICS
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
◆ Current state
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.
Alternatives to errors and quantities
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 errors or quantities.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
ggmagnify
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
symengine
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
gtfstools
gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.
dietr
A fish diet package whose release history is really a record of surviving rfishbase.
See all errors alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →
Recent activity from errors and quantities
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agoerrorserrors 0.4.4 replaces deprecated geom_errorbarh()
- 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
- 1y agoerrorserrors 0.4.3 supports decimals in parenthesis notation
- 2y agoerrorserrors 0.4.2 adds PDG rounding rules
- 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
- 2y agoerrorserrors 0.4.1 handles missing values, fixes na.rm
- 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
- 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
- 3y agoerrorserrors 0.4.0 adds geom_errors() for automatic errorbars
- 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 5y agoerrorserrors 0.3.6
- 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between errors and quantities?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. errors and quantities 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 errors better than quantities?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. errors and quantities 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 errors?
Top errors alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "errors alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/errors-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to quantities?
Top quantities alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "quantities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quantities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.