STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
fracture vs gghighlight
A side-by-side editorial comparison of fracture and gghighlight — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
fracture vs gghighlight: at a glance
What is fracture?
fracture solved decimal-to-fraction conversion years ago and now only answers to CRAN.
A single-purpose package converting decimals to fractions, with a matrix form and a Unicode pretty-printer. The functional work finished in 2021-2022: an explicit denom argument, named-argument-only calling, sensible denominators at 0 and 1, and NA and Inf handled rather than erroring. The only release since is a four-year-later removal of a C++11 system requirement that R's C++17 default made redundant.
What is gghighlight?
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
gghighlight adds one verb to ggplot2: highlight the series matching a predicate and grey out the rest, with unhighlighted_params controlling how the shadowed layer renders and calculate_per_facet deciding whether the predicate evaluates within facets. The API settled at 0.2.0; the 0.5.0 release supports ggplot2 v4.0 including its ink and paper theme elements, and finally deletes gghighlight_point() and gghighlight_line().
fracture vs gghighlight: editorial side-by-side
fracture
0.0ANALYTICS
fracture solved decimal-to-fraction conversion years ago and now only answers to CRAN.
◆ Current state
A single-purpose package converting decimals to fractions, with a matrix form and a Unicode pretty-printer. The functional work finished in 2021-2022: an explicit denom argument, named-argument-only calling, sensible denominators at 0 and 1, and NA and Inf handled rather than erroring. The only release since is a four-year-later removal of a C++11 system requirement that R's C++17 default made redundant.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a completed utility. Its arc ran from correctness — floating-point rounding, exhaustive tests across millions of fractions — through API tightening, to edge-case tolerance, and then stopped. The 2026 release contains no user-visible change at all; it exists because CRAN's toolchain moved, which is the characteristic maintenance mode of a small package that does one thing correctly.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these entries suggests new functionality; expect further releases only when R or CRAN policy forces one, as this one did.
gghighlight
0.0ANALYTICS
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
◆ Current state
gghighlight adds one verb to ggplot2: highlight the series matching a predicate and grey out the rest, with unhighlighted_params controlling how the shadowed layer renders and calculate_per_facet deciding whether the predicate evaluates within facets. The API settled at 0.2.0; the 0.5.0 release supports ggplot2 v4.0 including its ink and paper theme elements, and finally deletes gghighlight_point() and gghighlight_line().
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run through the history. One is a slow deprecation, from soft-deprecating the geom-specific functions at 0.1.0, to defunct at 0.3.0, to removed at 0.5.0 — a five-year removal cycle. The other is compatibility work: purrr 1.0.0, dplyr's across() deprecation, ggplot2 3.4.0, then 4.0. Genuine feature additions are rare and small, with line_label_type at 0.4.0 the last one. Note that 0.3.2's notes restate 0.3.1's n() item, so adjacent tags here overlap rather than each describing distinct work.
◆ Prediction
The next release most likely absorbs further ggplot2 4.x changes, given that is what triggered the last three. Nothing in the entries points to a new highlighting capability.
Alternatives to fracture and gghighlight
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 fracture or gghighlight.
ggtrace
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
kde1d
A univariate density estimator that added zero-inflated data and reopened its C++ API to do it.
svines
Stationary vine copulas for time series, released in lockstep with the rest of Nagler's vine stack.
rtrek
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
eiaapi
A thin EIA energy-data client whose whole story is making bulk queries survive the API's limits.
See all fracture alternatives → · See all gghighlight alternatives →
Recent activity from fracture and gghighlight
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agofractureObsolete C++11 requirement removed
- 1y agogghighlightggplot2 v4.0 support; geom-specific functions removed
- 2y agogghighlightTest expectations updated for upcoming ggplot2
- 3y agogghighlightline_label_type adds geomtextpath and second-axis labelling
- 4y agogghighlightDeprecated dplyr::across() usage removed
- 4y agofractureNA and Inf inputs handled instead of erroring
- 4y agofractureExplicit denominator argument; arguments now named-only
- 5y agogghighlightExplicit NULL in unhighlighted_params preserved; aesthetic name clash fixed
- 5y agogghighlightDiscrete-scale labels and n() predicates
- 5y agofractureUnicode fraction formatting and rounding fixes
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fracture and gghighlight?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. fracture and gghighlight 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 fracture better than gghighlight?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fracture and gghighlight 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 fracture?
Top fracture alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fracture alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fracture for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to gghighlight?
Top gghighlight alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "gghighlight alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/gghighlight for the full list with editorial commentary on each.