pr2database
The protist reference database keeps widening past the rRNA gene it was built on.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
JointFPM vs robscale
A side-by-side editorial comparison of JointFPM and robscale — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
JointFPM vs robscale: at a glance
What is JointFPM?
Recurrent-event modelling settles, with mean_no() promoted to stable.
JointFPM fits joint flexible parametric models for a recurrent event process alongside a competing terminal event, and predicts the mean number of events. The visible history runs from bug fixes on the earliest CRAN releases through standardization, integration options and a summary method, ending with mean_no() declared stable. Several changes arrived through outside pull requests.
What is robscale?
A robust-statistics package rewrote its estimators in SIMD C++ and went to CRAN in two weeks.
robscale computes robust scale and location estimators, and its pitch is speed: 21 to 26 times faster than stats::mad, 37 times faster than stats::IQR on small samples, with comparable margins over robustbase for Qn and Sn. The March 2026 releases took it from a GitHub project to a CRAN package carrying eleven estimators, all with confidence intervals.
JointFPM vs robscale: editorial side-by-side
JointFPM
0.0INFRA · APIS
Recurrent-event modelling settles, with mean_no() promoted to stable.
◆ Current state
JointFPM fits joint flexible parametric models for a recurrent event process alongside a competing terminal event, and predicts the mean number of events. The visible history runs from bug fixes on the earliest CRAN releases through standardization, integration options and a summary method, ending with mean_no() declared stable. Several changes arrived through outside pull requests.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from a working estimator toward a usable one: input validation and error messages first, then control over the numerical integration, then a summary method and pass-through arguments to the underlying rstpm2 fit. The latest release adds no code so much as a stability commitment to a function users were already calling.
◆ Prediction
With mean_no() stable, the next work most likely targets the prediction and standardization paths rather than the model fit itself.
robscale
0.0INFRA · APIS
A robust-statistics package rewrote its estimators in SIMD C++ and went to CRAN in two weeks.
◆ Current state
robscale computes robust scale and location estimators, and its pitch is speed: 21 to 26 times faster than stats::mad, 37 times faster than stats::IQR on small samples, with comparable margins over robustbase for Qn and Sn. The March 2026 releases took it from a GitHub project to a CRAN package carrying eleven estimators, all with confidence intervals.
◆ Where it's heading
Three releases in a fortnight walk a clear line: expand the public API, submit to CRAN, then tune. The 0.5.4 work is where that tuning shows, and it is unusually specific about hardware, raising sorting-network thresholds after benchmarking and dropping the AVX-512 path entirely in favour of a shorter AVX2-first dispatch chain. The build-fix lists are long, which is what a package fighting compiler and TBB variation across CRAN's platforms looks like.
◆ Prediction
The dispatch hierarchy has been simplified once already; further releases most likely continue narrowing the SIMD surface and hardening the configure step rather than adding estimators. A new estimator would be the surprise.
Alternatives to JointFPM and robscale
Other Infra & APIs 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 JointFPM or robscale.
ggalign
Composable aligned layouts, rebuilt on S7 while ggplot2 4.0 lands underneath.
prioritizr
Conservation planning absorbs the literature's target-setting rules as code.
jSDM
Joint species distribution models in Gibbs-sampled C++, quiet since 2023.
rsofun
An ecosystem model starts tracking carbon isotopes and land-use change.
usmap
Ten years in, US mapping splits its data out and finally adds Puerto Rico.
See all JointFPM alternatives → · See all robscale alternatives →
Recent activity from JointFPM and robscale
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agorobscaleSIMD median networks land; AVX-512 dispatch is dropped
- 4mo agorobscaleCRAN submission ships 11 robust estimators with bootstrap intervals ⚡
- 5mo agorobscalescale_robust() dispatcher and four new estimators join the public API
- 1y agoJointFPMmean_no() promoted to a stable interface
- 2y agoJointFPMsummary() method and control arguments passed to rstpm2
- 2y agoJointFPMGaussian quadrature option for the mean-events integration
- 2y agoJointFPMStandardized marginal estimates plus input validation
- 2y agoJointFPMBug fixes for differences between mean-event functions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between JointFPM and robscale?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. JointFPM and robscale 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 JointFPM better than robscale?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. JointFPM and robscale 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to JointFPM?
Top JointFPM alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "JointFPM alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jointfpm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to robscale?
Top robscale alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "robscale alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/robscale for the full list with editorial commentary on each.