gps2gtfs
gps2gtfs spent a release making its docs stop describing functions it does not have.
Comparison · Analytics
forrel vs glydet
A side-by-side editorial comparison of forrel and glydet — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
forrel vs glydet: at a glance
What is forrel?
forrel is getting faster at the simulations forensic kinship work actually spends its time on.
forrel handles forensic pedigree analysis: kinship likelihood ratios, profile simulation, relationship checking, and missing person calculations. Version 1.9.0 synced with pedtools 2.11.0's loop handling, which the release notes credit with enabling complex pedigrees that were previously intractable, and moved profileSim() to mirai for parallelism. It also added fEstimate() for inbreeding coefficients and parentChildLikelihood() as a fast path for the simplest case.
What is glydet?
glydet is rebuilding its glycan trait vocabulary on top of someone else's container.
glydet derives glycan-derived traits from glycomics and glycoproteomics data. The 0.12.x line spent its releases absorbing glyexp's container migration: derive_traits(), quantify_motifs(), and add_meta_properties() now accept GlycomicSE and GlycoproteomicSE natively, with the legacy experiment() path kept only for backward-compatible return types. The substantive feature work sits one release back in 0.11.0, which added sialic acid linkage traits and three published trait sets.
forrel vs glydet: editorial side-by-side
forrel
0.0ANALYTICS
forrel is getting faster at the simulations forensic kinship work actually spends its time on.
◆ Current state
forrel handles forensic pedigree analysis: kinship likelihood ratios, profile simulation, relationship checking, and missing person calculations. Version 1.9.0 synced with pedtools 2.11.0's loop handling, which the release notes credit with enabling complex pedigrees that were previously intractable, and moved profileSim() to mirai for parallelism. It also added fEstimate() for inbreeding coefficients and parentChildLikelihood() as a fast path for the simplest case.
◆ Where it's heading
Two long threads run through the window. One is making the common operations cheap: faster simulations through reorganized likelihood calculations, a dedicated parent-child path, dropped map attribute preservation, log-likelihoods to avoid underflow in kinshipLR(). The other is making relationship checking presentable, with checkPairwise() growing ggplot2 and plotly output, verbal relationship descriptions, and bootstrap p-values. Reference data is maintained alongside both, with the FORCE SNP panel completed and an X-chromosomal counterpart added.
◆ Prediction
With profileSim() on mirai and the loop handling synced, the next likely step is extending mirai parallelism to the other simulation-heavy functions such as exclusionPower() and the bootstrap in checkPairwise().
glydet
0.0ANALYTICS
glydet is rebuilding its glycan trait vocabulary on top of someone else's container.
◆ Current state
glydet derives glycan-derived traits from glycomics and glycoproteomics data. The 0.12.x line spent its releases absorbing glyexp's container migration: derive_traits(), quantify_motifs(), and add_meta_properties() now accept GlycomicSE and GlycoproteomicSE natively, with the legacy experiment() path kept only for backward-compatible return types. The substantive feature work sits one release back in 0.11.0, which added sialic acid linkage traits and three published trait sets.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run in parallel here. One is infrastructure: track glyexp's Stage II migration, drop the underscore matrix interfaces, and converge on a single trait column in var_info. The other is content: keep adding named trait sets from the literature (Clerc 2018, Li 2025, Fu 2026) so users cite a set rather than hand-roll definitions. The LLM-backed explain_trait() and make_trait() helpers are becoming provider-agnostic rather than deeper.
◆ Prediction
The trait catalogue is the growth area, so expect more published trait sets added as named functions, and the deprecated basic_traits() and all_traits() aliases to be removed once the container migration settles.
Alternatives to forrel and glydet
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 forrel or glydet.
ducksemantics
ducksemantics puts an ontology graph and ColBERT retrieval inside DuckDB, callable from R.
dvir
dvir keeps making disaster victim identification a single call instead of a workflow.
pedbuildr
pedbuildr reconstructs pedigrees from DNA, and it just got much faster at the search.
pedFamilias
pedFamilias exists to read one legacy file format, and it has that job nearly finished.
pedmut
pedmut turns awkward mutation models into ones the likelihood engine can actually handle.
See all forrel alternatives → · See all glydet alternatives →
Recent activity from forrel and glydet
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoglydetDocs and vignettes move to SummarizedExperiment inputs
- 1mo agoglydetTrait functions behave consistently across both containers
- 1mo agoglydetContainer migration lands alongside batch trait creation
- 1mo agoglydetglymotif 0.17 compatibility and clearer trait wording
- 1mo agoforrelmirai parallelism and faster profile simulation
- 3mo agoglydetSialic acid linkage traits and three published trait sets
- 4mo agoglydetVariable name standardization and vignette fixes
- 1y agoforrelFORCE SNP panel completed and X-chromosomal set added
- 1y agoforrelrankProfiles() and access to special lumping
- 1y agoforrelacrossComps argument and readFam() unexported
- 1y agoforrelcheckPairwise() overhauled with p-values and new plot backends
- 2y agoforrelFamilias interoperability split into pedFamilias
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between forrel and glydet?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. forrel and glydet 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 forrel better than glydet?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. forrel and glydet 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 forrel?
Top forrel alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "forrel alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/forrel for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to glydet?
Top glydet alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "glydet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/glydet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.