goat
A gene-set enrichment package that outgrew its human-only origins, then went quiet.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
midr vs slendr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of midr and slendr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
midr vs slendr: at a glance
What is midr?
A black-box interpreter reaches CRAN, then learns multi-class and survival responses
midr explains black-box models by fitting an interpretable surrogate through Maximum Interpretation Decomposition — main effects plus second-order interactions, with exact Shapley values for the surrogate. Two months after its first CRAN release it can take a matrix response, which covers multi-class classification and survival models, and hold collections of fitted interpretations in midlist and midrib objects for comparison.
What is slendr?
Population-genetic simulation in R, opened up to selection and finally easier to install.
slendr specifies spatial and non-spatial population-genetic models in R and simulates them through SLiM or msprime, returning tree sequences that tskit then analyses. Two threads dominate the current releases: keeping in step with fast-moving backends, with SLiM 5.1, pyslim 1.1.0 and Python 3.13 now required, and reducing the setup burden that its Python dependency imposes. Version 1.5.0 adds ephemeral uv-based virtual environments, so init_env(uv = TRUE) can stand in for creating a permanent environment with setup_env().
midr vs slendr: editorial side-by-side
midr
0.0INFRA · APIS
A black-box interpreter reaches CRAN, then learns multi-class and survival responses
◆ Current state
midr explains black-box models by fitting an interpretable surrogate through Maximum Interpretation Decomposition — main effects plus second-order interactions, with exact Shapley values for the surrogate. Two months after its first CRAN release it can take a matrix response, which covers multi-class classification and survival models, and hold collections of fitted interpretations in midlist and midrib objects for comparison.
◆ Where it's heading
The releases move outward along two axes at once: what can be interpreted, and how much of it fits in memory. Version 0.5.3 rebuilt the fitting path to avoid materialising large design matrices and added a save.memory option; 0.6.0 widened the response from a vector to a matrix and added parametric link functions. Class and argument names were shortened in the same release, so the package is still willing to break itself this early.
◆ Prediction
With multiple models now held in one object and visualisation methods for them, comparison across models is the surface most likely to fill out next — the collection classes exist but the notes describe manipulation and plotting rather than any comparison metric.
slendr
0.0INFRA · APIS
Population-genetic simulation in R, opened up to selection and finally easier to install.
◆ Current state
slendr specifies spatial and non-spatial population-genetic models in R and simulates them through SLiM or msprime, returning tree sequences that tskit then analyses. Two threads dominate the current releases: keeping in step with fast-moving backends, with SLiM 5.1, pyslim 1.1.0 and Python 3.13 now required, and reducing the setup burden that its Python dependency imposes. Version 1.5.0 adds ephemeral uv-based virtual environments, so init_env(uv = TRUE) can stand in for creating a permanent environment with setup_env().
◆ Where it's heading
Since the 1.0.0 release added non-neutral simulation, the work has shifted from capability to friction. A large share of recent notes concerns Python environment handling, conda activation races on Windows, dependency pruning that made shiny optional, and argument names that misled users, as when gene_flow()'s rate argument turned out to mean total ancestry proportion rather than a rate. That is the profile of a package whose scientific surface is settled and whose remaining problems are the ones users actually hit.
◆ Prediction
Expect the uv-based environment path to move from fallback to default once it has proven itself, given the notes already describe an environment variable for making it so. The deprecated rate argument in gene_flow() is explicitly slated for removal in a future major release, which is the clearest signal here of what a 2.0 would contain.
Alternatives to midr and slendr
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 midr or slendr.
rollupTree
The recursive-computation engine under massProps grows the accessors its consumer needed
massProps
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
writeAlizer
Six months of releases and not one of them touched the scoring models
samplr
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
stochvol
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
Recent activity from midr and slendr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoslendrEphemeral uv Python environments remove the setup step
- 5mo agomidrMatrix responses bring multi-class and survival models in scope ⚡
- 7mo agomidrFirst CRAN release: MID surrogate models for black-box explanation ⚡
- 7mo agomidrMemory-efficient fitting for large design matrices
- 7mo agoslendrgene_flow() separates migration rate from ancestry proportion
- 9mo agoslendrshiny made optional; SLiM 5.1 and Python 3.13 required
- 1y agoslendrconda activation reverted to a slower but reliable path
- 1y agoslendrBackends raised to SLiM 5.0, tskit 0.6.4 and msprime 1.3.4
- 1y agoslendrNon-neutral models arrive; slim() interface simplified ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between midr and slendr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. midr and slendr 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 midr better than slendr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. midr and slendr 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 midr?
Top midr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "midr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/midr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to slendr?
Top slendr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "slendr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/slendr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.