STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
haze vs roclang
A side-by-side editorial comparison of haze and roclang — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
haze vs roclang: at a glance
What is haze?
Four dormant years end with a modernization pass and an off-by-one fix in the C++ core
haze does nearest-neighbour smoothing and k-d tree interpolation on brain surface meshes. It sat untouched from April 2022 until July 2026, when a single release modernized it for current R versions and corrected an off-by-one error in the C++ code. It is not on CRAN and never will be — the package exceeds 50MB against CRAN's 5MB ceiling, a constraint its own initial release notes acknowledge.
What is roclang?
A roxygen2 documentation-reuse helper whose release notes are mostly upstream damage control.
roclang lets package authors pull documentation text out of an existing function's roxygen block and splice it into their own — extract_roc_text() with type = "param", "dot_params" or a section selector. The feature surface has been stable since 0.2.1; the parameter-matching rules and the checks for invalid or ambiguous extractions are the substance of what shipped.
haze vs roclang: editorial side-by-side
haze
2.5ANALYTICS
Four dormant years end with a modernization pass and an off-by-one fix in the C++ core
◆ Current state
haze does nearest-neighbour smoothing and k-d tree interpolation on brain surface meshes. It sat untouched from April 2022 until July 2026, when a single release modernized it for current R versions and corrected an off-by-one error in the C++ code. It is not on CRAN and never will be — the package exceeds 50MB against CRAN's 5MB ceiling, a constraint its own initial release notes acknowledge.
◆ Where it's heading
The July 2026 release arrived 56 minutes after its sibling regfusionr 0.3.0 from the same maintainer, which is the tell: this is a maintainer sweeping a set of related neuroimaging packages back into working order, not independent development on haze itself. haze is the dependency, regfusionr the consumer, and the substantive work sits on the regfusionr side. The off-by-one correction is the only change here that alters results.
◆ Prediction
Expect haze to move only when a downstream dfsp-spirit package needs it to — its cadence is driven by the sibling packages, not by its own roadmap.
roclang
0.0ANALYTICS
A roxygen2 documentation-reuse helper whose release notes are mostly upstream damage control.
◆ Current state
roclang lets package authors pull documentation text out of an existing function's roxygen block and splice it into their own — extract_roc_text() with type = "param", "dot_params" or a section selector. The feature surface has been stable since 0.2.1; the parameter-matching rules and the checks for invalid or ambiguous extractions are the substance of what shipped.
◆ Where it's heading
Nearly every release since 0.2.0 has been reactive. The package parses documentation text produced by other packages, so a wording change in stats::lm()'s documentation breaks its test suite, and a roxygen2 selection-semantics change forces its parameter matching to follow. The 0.2.3 release is exactly this pattern again. Release cadence has slowed to roughly one entry every two years, and the last two carried no functional change at all.
◆ Prediction
Further releases are most likely triggered by upstream roxygen2 or base R documentation edits breaking tests rather than by new extraction capability. The entries show no queued feature work.
Alternatives to haze and roclang
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 haze or roclang.
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.
gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
rtrek
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
See all haze alternatives → · See all roclang alternatives →
Recent activity from haze and roclang
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 18d agohazeVersion 0.3.0 -- Fixes and modernization
- 11mo agoroclangTest fix for changed stats::lm() Reference section
- 3y agoroclangREADME loading switched to pkgload, downloads badge added
- 3y agoroclangDot-params error messages and ... selection unblocked
- 4y agoroclangMulti-parameter selection follows roxygen2 7.1.2 semantics
- 4y agohazev0.2.0 -- kdtrees
- 4y agohazev0.1.0: Initial release
- 4y agoroclangAmbiguous unqualified function names now error
- 4y agoroclangCI workflows, fuller test coverage, unqualified-package fix
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between haze and roclang?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. haze is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is haze better than roclang?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. haze is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to haze?
Top haze alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "haze alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/haze for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to roclang?
Top roclang alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "roclang alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/roclang for the full list with editorial commentary on each.