simlandr
Potential landscape tooling settling onto standard R generics after two rounds of renaming.
Comparison · Analytics
fastrg vs healthyR.data
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fastrg and healthyR.data — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
fastrg vs healthyR.data: at a glance
What is fastrg?
A fast random-graph sampler that spent 0.3.1 fixing what its parameters actually mean.
fastRG samples from generalized random dot product graphs — stochastic blockmodels, degree-corrected and overlapping variants, directed and undirected — in time proportional to the number of edges rather than nodes squared, which is what makes large sparse networks tractable. Since 0.3.1 the model is constructed and parameterised in one object, with sampling methods taking that object rather than re-specifying edge distribution at sample time.
What is healthyR.data?
From a bundled hospital dataset to a live CMS API client.
healthyR.data supplies the data layer for the healthyverse packages. It began by shipping hospital data inside the package and now fetches from CMS and provider endpoints at call time through get_cms_meta_data(), fetch_cms_data(), and their provider counterparts. The most recent release is a single httr2 compatibility fix.
fastrg vs healthyR.data: editorial side-by-side
fastrg
0.0ANALYTICS
A fast random-graph sampler that spent 0.3.1 fixing what its parameters actually mean.
◆ Current state
fastRG samples from generalized random dot product graphs — stochastic blockmodels, degree-corrected and overlapping variants, directed and undirected — in time proportional to the number of edges rather than nodes squared, which is what makes large sparse networks tractable. Since 0.3.1 the model is constructed and parameterised in one object, with sampling methods taking that object rather than re-specifying edge distribution at sample time.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's development has been about semantic correctness more than speed. The 0.3.1 release moved edge-distribution arguments to the constructors and reinterpreted the mixing matrix S under Bernoulli parameterisation; 0.3.2 then flipped the meaning of X and Y in directed blockmodels so outgoing and incoming factors match the edge convention, and made block sorting conditional rather than unconditional. Both are corrections to what returned values mean, not to how fast they arrive. The 2025 release is CRAN documentation linking only.
◆ Prediction
With parameterisation settled and only a documentation release since 2023, the package reads as feature-complete for its sampling families. Nothing in the entries points to additional model types being queued.
healthyR.data
0.0ANALYTICS
From a bundled hospital dataset to a live CMS API client.
◆ Current state
healthyR.data supplies the data layer for the healthyverse packages. It began by shipping hospital data inside the package and now fetches from CMS and provider endpoints at call time through get_cms_meta_data(), fetch_cms_data(), and their provider counterparts. The most recent release is a single httr2 compatibility fix.
◆ Where it's heading
The 2023 release added roughly twenty current_*_data() accessors, one per CMS measure file - a wide but static surface. The 2024 releases replaced that approach with metadata lookup plus generic fetchers, then taught the fetchers to handle CSV, Excel, and ZIP payloads rather than API responses alone. The package's weight has moved from what it ships to what it can retrieve.
◆ Prediction
With the fetch layer generalised, the next visible work is more likely record-limit and error handling around httr2 than further per-measure accessors.
Alternatives to fastrg and healthyR.data
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 fastrg or healthyR.data.
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 fastrg alternatives → · See all healthyR.data alternatives →
Recent activity from fastrg and healthyR.data
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agofastrgDocumentation cross-linking fixes for CRAN
- 1y agohealthyR.datahttr2 compatibility fix
- 2y agohealthyR.dataFetchers handle CSV, Excel, and ZIP, with a record limit
- 2y agohealthyR.dataMetadata lookup and generic CMS fetchers replace bundled data ⚡
- 2y agofastrgDirected blockmodel X and Y factors swapped to match edge direction
- 3y agohealthyR.dataTwenty CMS measure accessors added
- 3y agohealthyR.datacli, crayon, and rstudioapi dependencies dropped
- 4y agofastrgfastRG 0.3.1 ⚡
- 5y agohealthyR.dataxz compression added to meet CRAN size policy
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fastrg and healthyR.data?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. fastrg and healthyR.data 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 fastrg better than healthyR.data?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fastrg and healthyR.data 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 fastrg?
Top fastrg alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fastrg alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fastrg for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to healthyR.data?
Top healthyR.data alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "healthyR.data alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/healthyr-data for the full list with editorial commentary on each.