randomwalk
randomwalk spent every release getting an R simulation to run in the browser, not on a server.
Comparison · Analytics
fillpattern vs singlercapture
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fillpattern and singlercapture — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
fillpattern vs singlercapture: 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 singlercapture?
singleRcapture reached 1.0.0 with no release notes at all — the arc has to be read backwards.
A package for single-source capture-recapture population size estimation: zero-truncated Poisson, geometric and negative binomial regression, Chao and Zelterman mixture models, analytic and bootstrap variance estimation, all behind estimatePopsize(). The 0.2.x line professionalised it — an offset argument, parallel bootstrap and dfbeta, faster semiparametric sampling, a singleRStaticCountData subclass explicitly created so a companion package could fit models from countreg and VGAM, then interaction-term and anova fixes. The 1.0.0 release carries nothing but a link to the compare view.
fillpattern vs singlercapture: 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.
singlercapture
0.0ANALYTICS
singleRcapture reached 1.0.0 with no release notes at all — the arc has to be read backwards.
◆ Current state
A package for single-source capture-recapture population size estimation: zero-truncated Poisson, geometric and negative binomial regression, Chao and Zelterman mixture models, analytic and bootstrap variance estimation, all behind estimatePopsize(). The 0.2.x line professionalised it — an offset argument, parallel bootstrap and dfbeta, faster semiparametric sampling, a singleRStaticCountData subclass explicitly created so a companion package could fit models from countreg and VGAM, then interaction-term and anova fixes. The 1.0.0 release carries nothing but a link to the compare view.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction visible in 0.2.x is outward: refactoring for maintainability, extending to models fitted elsewhere via a subclass, adding a JSS-paper vignette, and pushing coverage towards 90%. That is a package preparing to be cited and extended rather than one still finding its methods. The 1.0.0 tag presumably marks the end of that stabilisation, but the entry itself gives no evidence either way.
◆ Prediction
Not readable from this feed — the 1.0.0 notes are empty, so whether the major version marks an API freeze or a breaking change cannot be determined from the entries shown.
Alternatives to fillpattern and singlercapture
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 singlercapture.
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 singlercapture alternatives →
Recent activity from fillpattern and singlercapture
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agofillpatternSize string parsing fixed; invalid units now report instead of crash
- 6mo agosinglercapturesingleRcapture 1.0.0
- 1y agosinglercaptureanova and other broken methods fixed
- 1y agosinglercaptureInteraction terms fixed; logLik returns gradients and hessians
- 2y agofillpatternSmall fill areas no longer crash; min_size falls back to solid
- 2y agofillpatternfillpattern 1.0.1
- 2y agosinglercaptureSubclass opens population estimation to countreg and VGAM fits
- 4y agosinglercaptureFirst usable release: zero-truncated and mixture estimators
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fillpattern and singlercapture?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. fillpattern and singlercapture 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 singlercapture?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fillpattern and singlercapture 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 singlercapture?
Top singlercapture alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "singlercapture alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/singlercapture for the full list with editorial commentary on each.