qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
hexfont vs quantities
A side-by-side editorial comparison of hexfont and quantities — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
hexfont vs quantities: at a glance
What is hexfont?
A GNU Unifont packager whose real work is making a huge font load fast.
hexfont ships GNU Unifont's hex bitmap files to R as bittermelon font objects, covering the full Unicode range. The last two releases were about load cost and portability: a user-level cache for precompiled fonts, then making that cache read-only by default so nothing is written unless asked. The font data itself tracks Unifont v16.0.02.
What is quantities?
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
hexfont vs quantities: editorial side-by-side
hexfont
0.0ANALYTICS
A GNU Unifont packager whose real work is making a huge font load fast.
◆ Current state
hexfont ships GNU Unifont's hex bitmap files to R as bittermelon font objects, covering the full Unicode range. The last two releases were about load cost and portability: a user-level cache for precompiled fonts, then making that cache read-only by default so nothing is written unless asked. The font data itself tracks Unifont v16.0.02.
◆ Where it's heading
Each release does two things — resync with a newer GNU Unifont and shave the cost of using it. The performance thread has been the more consequential one, moving from the ucp argument that restricts which code points get read, to a full precompiled cache. Version 1.0.0 also walked back the R 4.1 pipe to keep the package usable on R 4.0.
◆ Prediction
Future releases most likely follow GNU Unifont's own version cadence, with occasional cache or loading refinements.
quantities
0.0ANALYTICS
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
◆ Current state
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.
Alternatives to hexfont and quantities
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 hexfont or quantities.
constants
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
See all hexfont alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →
Recent activity from hexfont and quantities
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agohexfontCache becomes opt-in to write; restores R 4.0 support
- 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
- 1y agohexfontPrecompiled font cache cuts load time
- 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
- 2y agohexfontUnifont v15.1.04 and a version accessor
- 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
- 3y agohexfontAdds code-point filtering and combining-glyph lookup
- 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
- 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between hexfont and quantities?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. hexfont and quantities 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 hexfont better than quantities?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. hexfont and quantities 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 hexfont?
Top hexfont alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "hexfont alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hexfont-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to quantities?
Top quantities alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "quantities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quantities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.