randomwalk
randomwalk spent every release getting an R simulation to run in the browser, not on a server.
Comparison · Analytics
fillpattern vs nert
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fillpattern and nert — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
fillpattern vs nert: at a glance
What is fillpattern?
Pattern fills for ggplot2, hardened against the ways users write sizes
fillpattern provides pattern fills — stripes, bricks, dots — for ggplot2 and base R graphics, aimed at figures that must stay legible in greyscale or to colour-blind readers. The 1.0.3 release is mostly defensive: size modifier strings ending in a colon no longer swap width for height, modify_size() reports invalid units instead of crashing and understands in, inches and cm, and a background colour bug in scale_fill_pattern() is fixed. The minimum R version rises to 4.2.0 for recent graphics engine features.
What is nert?
nert put fourteen TERN datasets behind one dispatcher and called it stable.
nert is an R client for the TERN data API, reaching its first stable release in May 2026 after a year of milestone-tagged development. Version 1.0.0 exposes eleven functions covering fourteen datasets — SMIPS, ASC, AET, eight SLGA soil attributes, Soil Beta Diversity, Canopy Height and Land Surface Phenology — through a single read_tern(dataset_id, ...) dispatcher plus collect_tern_data() for batch extraction across locations and date ranges. Coverage sits at 83% overall with every reader at 100%.
fillpattern vs nert: editorial side-by-side
fillpattern
0.0ANALYTICS
Pattern fills for ggplot2, hardened against the ways users write sizes
◆ Current state
fillpattern provides pattern fills — stripes, bricks, dots — for ggplot2 and base R graphics, aimed at figures that must stay legible in greyscale or to colour-blind readers. The 1.0.3 release is mostly defensive: size modifier strings ending in a colon no longer swap width for height, modify_size() reports invalid units instead of crashing and understands in, inches and cm, and a background colour bug in scale_fill_pattern() is fixed. The minimum R version rises to 4.2.0 for recent graphics engine features.
◆ Where it's heading
Development is slow and entirely reactive to how the string-based size interface fails. The pattern across releases is the same: a user hits an edge — very small fill areas in 1.0.2, malformed unit strings in 1.0.3 — and the fix is either a graceful fallback or a clearer error. Leaning on R's newer graphics engine rather than reimplementing pattern rendering keeps the package small at the cost of raising its version floor.
◆ Prediction
Expect further releases to stay in the same register: parsing and validation fixes for the size and unit interface, with the pattern set itself unlikely to change.
nert
0.0ANALYTICS
nert put fourteen TERN datasets behind one dispatcher and called it stable.
◆ Current state
nert is an R client for the TERN data API, reaching its first stable release in May 2026 after a year of milestone-tagged development. Version 1.0.0 exposes eleven functions covering fourteen datasets — SMIPS, ASC, AET, eight SLGA soil attributes, Soil Beta Diversity, Canopy Height and Land Surface Phenology — through a single read_tern(dataset_id, ...) dispatcher plus collect_tern_data() for batch extraction across locations and date ranges. Coverage sits at 83% overall with every reader at 100%.
◆ Where it's heading
The release history is unusual in that most of its tags are not releases: Milestone 1, 2 and 4 were pushed within eight minutes of each other in July 2025 purely as grant reporting and audit markers, with no user-facing content. What the 1.0.0 notes emphasise instead is test discipline — 310 deterministic offline tests, snapshot pins on every TERN bucket path and filename template, and mocked COG reads so R CMD check never touches the network. That is a client built on the assumption that the remote API's URL structure will change underneath it.
◆ Prediction
The notes describe pre-CRAN review polish and itemise remaining check NOTEs in cran-comments.md, so the next move is most likely a CRAN submission rather than additional dataset coverage.
Alternatives to fillpattern and nert
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 fillpattern or nert.
fastml
fastml added survival modelling and leakage-proof resampling, moving past classification and regression.
abclass
abclass built out angle-based classifiers in 2022, then went quiet except for CRAN upkeep.
churon
churon is spending its entire release history getting a Rust ONNX binding through CRAN.
firatheme
firatheme woke up after four years and started fixing what ggplot2 changed underneath it.
bagyo
bagyo reached CRAN as a Philippine tropical cyclone dataset, with its tags stamped out of order.
See all fillpattern alternatives → · See all nert alternatives →
Recent activity from fillpattern and nert
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agonertnert 1.0.0 — first stable release ⚡
- 6mo agofillpatternSize string parsing fixed; invalid units now report instead of crash
- 1y agonertGrant audit tag: project Milestone 4
- 1y agonertGrant audit tag: project Milestone 2
- 1y agonertGrant audit tag: project Milestone 1
- 1y agonertv0.0.1 - First release
- 2y agofillpatternSmall fill areas no longer crash; min_size falls back to solid
- 2y agofillpatternfillpattern 1.0.1
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fillpattern and nert?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. fillpattern and nert 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 fillpattern better than nert?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fillpattern and nert 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 fillpattern?
Top fillpattern alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fillpattern alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fillpattern for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to nert?
Top nert alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "nert alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nert for the full list with editorial commentary on each.