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lazyeval vs reporter

A side-by-side editorial comparison of lazyeval and reporter — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

lazyeval vs reporter: at a glance

Featurelazyevalreporter
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesnon-standard-evaluation, r-c-api, dormancy-revival, tidyverseclinical-reporting, document-generation, sas-migration, pagination
Last editorial update22m ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is lazyeval?

A package retired in 2017 just got rewritten against R's public C API.

lazyeval was the tidyverse's pre-rlang non-standard evaluation layer, formally set aside in 2017 when tidy evaluation replaced it. After eight and a half years without a release, 0.2.3 arrives as a compliance rewrite: the implementation now uses R's public C API, and the release note states it may differ from the historical one in subtle ways. Nothing about the package's role has changed.

Read the full lazyeval trajectory →

What is reporter?

A clinical-report generator steadily trading automatic layout for user control.

reporter produces paginated statistical reports in RTF, DOCX, PDF, HTML and text from R, aimed at the regulated clinical output that SAS PROC REPORT has traditionally produced. It is the most actively developed component of the r-sassy suite, shipping several releases a year, each a batch of layout capabilities plus pagination fixes. The dominant engineering problem across every release is page breaking, especially in DOCX.

Read the full reporter trajectory →

lazyeval vs reporter: editorial side-by-side

L
lazyeval
ANALYTICS
0.0

A package retired in 2017 just got rewritten against R's public C API.

◆ Current state

lazyeval was the tidyverse's pre-rlang non-standard evaluation layer, formally set aside in 2017 when tidy evaluation replaced it. After eight and a half years without a release, 0.2.3 arrives as a compliance rewrite: the implementation now uses R's public C API, and the release note states it may differ from the historical one in subtle ways. Nothing about the package's role has changed.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a dormancy revival driven entirely from outside, R core tightening what counts as the public C API forces packages using older internals to be rewritten or be archived. lazyeval is still a dependency deep in older package trees, so keeping it installable matters more than developing it. The caveat about subtle behavioural differences is the notable part: a package nobody is developing has changed behaviour in ways its release note declines to enumerate.

◆ Prediction

Expect no further development, only additional compliance releases if R core tightens the C API again.

R
reporter
ANALYTICS
2.5

A clinical-report generator steadily trading automatic layout for user control.

◆ Current state

reporter produces paginated statistical reports in RTF, DOCX, PDF, HTML and text from R, aimed at the regulated clinical output that SAS PROC REPORT has traditionally produced. It is the most actively developed component of the r-sassy suite, shipping several releases a year, each a batch of layout capabilities plus pagination fixes. The dominant engineering problem across every release is page breaking, especially in DOCX.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is consistently toward exposing control over behaviour that was previously automatic: line breaks, page wrapping, page counts, title blocks and page breaks have all moved from fixed policy to user-settable options. Alongside that, the page header and footer have grown from a fixed structure into a layout region with column widths, centre columns and images. Pagination correctness remains the recurring cost of that flexibility, appearing in nearly every release.

◆ Prediction

Expect further options carving out exceptions to automatic layout, and continued DOCX pagination fixes, which are the most frequently revisited area in this history.

Alternatives to lazyeval and reporter

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 lazyeval or reporter.

See all lazyeval alternatives → · See all reporter alternatives →

Recent activity from lazyeval and reporter

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 26d agoreporterreport_options() centralises control over automatic layout
  2. 3mo agoreporterGroup cohesion and break labels added to define()
  3. 4mo agolazyevalReimplemented against R's public C API after eight years dormant
  4. 6mo agoreporterPage headers and footers gain column widths and images
  5. 8mo agoreporterEMF image import and a Courier default font
  6. 2y agoreporterDedupe, page-break and page-numbering fixes
  7. 2y agoreporterDedupe fix for non-unique values plus CRAN corrections
  8. 8y agolazyevalDevelopment ends as the tidyverse moves to tidy evaluation
  9. 10y agolazyevalFormula-based lazy evaluation system introduced
  10. 11y agolazyevallazyeval 0.1.10
  11. 11y agolazyevallazyeval 0.1.9

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between lazyeval and reporter?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. reporter 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 lazyeval better than reporter?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. reporter 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 lazyeval?

Top lazyeval alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lazyeval alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lazyeval for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to reporter?

Top reporter alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "reporter alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/reporter for the full list with editorial commentary on each.