HydroPortailStats
France's national flood statistics, ported out of Fortran and into R.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
fdacluster vs profoc
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fdacluster and profoc — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-packagercpp
fdacluster vs profoc: at a glance
What is fdacluster?
Functional data clustering grew from one algorithm into a comparable suite
fdacluster clusters functional data while separating amplitude from phase variation, aligning curves as part of the clustering rather than before it. The algorithm set covers k-means, hierarchical clustering and DBSCAN, all producing a common caps result object so runs can be compared directly. Version 0.4.0 tightened the interface with is_domain_interval and transformation arguments describing the input data, added compatibility checking between incompatible option combinations, and split the L2 and normalized L2 distances into separate C++ classes to enforce that plain L2 cannot be combined with dilation or affine warping it is not invariant to.
What is profoc?
A forecast combination package that spun its profiler out into its own project
profoc combines probabilistic forecasts online, using the Bernstein online aggregation family with B-spline smoothing over quantiles and time. The recent releases are infrastructure rather than method: 1.3.4 removed a using namespace arma directive for CRAN compliance and closed a timer edge case, 1.3.3 adjusted the integration with rcpptimer against its now-stable 1.2.0 API. The last release to change what users can do was 1.3.0, which exposed the conline C++ class to R and exported init_experts_list(), make_basis_mats(), make_hat_mats() and post_process_model() so the engine can be driven directly.
fdacluster vs profoc: editorial side-by-side
fdacluster
0.0INFRA · APIS
Functional data clustering grew from one algorithm into a comparable suite
◆ Current state
fdacluster clusters functional data while separating amplitude from phase variation, aligning curves as part of the clustering rather than before it. The algorithm set covers k-means, hierarchical clustering and DBSCAN, all producing a common caps result object so runs can be compared directly. Version 0.4.0 tightened the interface with is_domain_interval and transformation arguments describing the input data, added compatibility checking between incompatible option combinations, and split the L2 and normalized L2 distances into separate C++ classes to enforce that plain L2 cannot be combined with dilation or affine warping it is not invariant to.
◆ Where it's heading
The trajectory runs from method implementation toward guardrails and portability. Early releases added capability; recent ones prevent misuse and reduce weight - dplyr, forcats, tidyr and purrr removed in 0.4.0, furrr swapped for future.apply - while 0.4.2 is entirely C++ correctness, replacing Armadillo's whole-object finiteness check with scalar std::isfinite and fixing an integer overflow in linear index computation that broke large datasets. Cadence is roughly one release a year.
◆ Prediction
Given that the last two releases were dependency reduction and numerical correctness rather than method work, expect the next to continue in that vein unless a new clustering algorithm is contributed.
profoc
0.0INFRA · APIS
A forecast combination package that spun its profiler out into its own project
◆ Current state
profoc combines probabilistic forecasts online, using the Bernstein online aggregation family with B-spline smoothing over quantiles and time. The recent releases are infrastructure rather than method: 1.3.4 removed a using namespace arma directive for CRAN compliance and closed a timer edge case, 1.3.3 adjusted the integration with rcpptimer against its now-stable 1.2.0 API. The last release to change what users can do was 1.3.0, which exposed the conline C++ class to R and exported init_experts_list(), make_basis_mats(), make_hat_mats() and post_process_model() so the engine can be driven directly.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is toward a reusable C++ core with thin language bindings. The timing code that lived inside profoc was extracted into the standalone rcpptimer package in 1.3.2, deliberately so other R packages and Python projects could use it through cpptimer and cppytimer, and the clock header was reworked in 1.3.1 to maximise the code shared between the R and Python versions. Method work sits earlier in the history - periodic splines and penalties in 1.2.0, the penalty() function in 1.1.0 - while the recent cadence, a single release in the last sixteen months, points at a package the maintainer considers finished.
◆ Prediction
The repeated references to future Python use suggest the next significant work happens outside this package, in the shared C++ components, rather than in profoc's R surface.
Alternatives to fdacluster and profoc
Other Infra & APIs 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 fdacluster or profoc.
bsvarSIGNs
Sign, zero and narrative restrictions brought into the bsvars ecosystem.
estimatr
Fast design-based estimators for experiments, coasting on CRAN patches.
ggdist
The grammar of uncertainty visualization, now drawing the uncertainty in its own estimates.
ipaddress
IP address vectors for R that hit 1.0 and then went quiet.
ltertools
A column-key toolkit for stitching decades of ecological field data into one table.
See all fdacluster alternatives → · See all profoc alternatives →
Recent activity from fdacluster and profoc
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agoprofocCRAN compliance fix removing a namespace directive
- 7mo agofdaclusterInteger overflow fixed for large datasets, C++ finiteness checks corrected
- 1y agofdaclusterParallel worker setup and an acronym correction
- 1y agofdaclusterInput description arguments and enforced distance-warping compatibility
- 1y agoprofocTimer integration updated to the stable rcpptimer API
- 2y agoprofocTiming code extracted into the standalone rcpptimer package
- 2y agoprofocInteger overflow fix and Welford timing statistics
- 2y agoprofocThe conline C++ class opens up to R users
- 2y agoprofocQuantile crossing flagged and tidy methods added
- 3y agofdaclusterMedian centroids and centroids defined on unioned grids
- 3y agofdaclusterNamespace notation and optional dependency guards
- 3y agofdaclusterHierarchical clustering, DBSCAN and a shared result class arrive together ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fdacluster and profoc?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package, rcpp — within Infra & APIs. fdacluster and profoc 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 fdacluster better than profoc?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fdacluster and profoc 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to fdacluster?
Top fdacluster alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fdacluster alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fdacluster for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to profoc?
Top profoc alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "profoc alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/profoc for the full list with editorial commentary on each.