HydroPortailStats
France's national flood statistics, ported out of Fortran and into R.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
mize vs profoc
A side-by-side editorial comparison of mize and profoc — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
mize vs profoc: at a glance
What is mize?
A numerical optimization toolkit that has been feature-complete and quiet since 2017
mize provides a configurable interface to unconstrained numerical optimization methods - line searches, gradient descent variants, quasi-Newton updates - usable both as a one-shot call and as a stepwise iterator. Its functional surface has not changed since the initial CRAN release in July 2017. Every release since has been a patch: R-devel compatibility, line search edge cases, and in 2026's 0.2.5 the removal of LazyData from DESCRIPTION plus deletion of some flaky tests.
What is profoc?
A forecast combination package that spun its profiler out into its own project
profoc combines probabilistic forecasts online, using the Bernstein online aggregation family with B-spline smoothing over quantiles and time. The recent releases are infrastructure rather than method: 1.3.4 removed a using namespace arma directive for CRAN compliance and closed a timer edge case, 1.3.3 adjusted the integration with rcpptimer against its now-stable 1.2.0 API. The last release to change what users can do was 1.3.0, which exposed the conline C++ class to R and exported init_experts_list(), make_basis_mats(), make_hat_mats() and post_process_model() so the engine can be driven directly.
mize vs profoc: editorial side-by-side
mize
0.0INFRA · APIS
A numerical optimization toolkit that has been feature-complete and quiet since 2017
◆ Current state
mize provides a configurable interface to unconstrained numerical optimization methods - line searches, gradient descent variants, quasi-Newton updates - usable both as a one-shot call and as a stepwise iterator. Its functional surface has not changed since the initial CRAN release in July 2017. Every release since has been a patch: R-devel compatibility, line search edge cases, and in 2026's 0.2.5 the removal of LazyData from DESCRIPTION plus deletion of some flaky tests.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern is a stable library rather than an abandoned one. Fixes address real reports - a bracket_step error when the Schmidt line search exhausts its function evaluation budget, an incorrect gradient count under backtracking with a specified step_down - and the maintainer used one release note to clarify that backtracking behaviour differs depending on whether step_down is supplied, which reads as answering a recurring question. The five and a half year gap between 0.2.4 and 0.2.5 is the clearest signal: the package is maintained on demand, not developed.
◆ Prediction
Expect nothing until an R or CRAN policy change forces another compliance patch, which is what triggered the most recent release.
profoc
0.0INFRA · APIS
A forecast combination package that spun its profiler out into its own project
◆ Current state
profoc combines probabilistic forecasts online, using the Bernstein online aggregation family with B-spline smoothing over quantiles and time. The recent releases are infrastructure rather than method: 1.3.4 removed a using namespace arma directive for CRAN compliance and closed a timer edge case, 1.3.3 adjusted the integration with rcpptimer against its now-stable 1.2.0 API. The last release to change what users can do was 1.3.0, which exposed the conline C++ class to R and exported init_experts_list(), make_basis_mats(), make_hat_mats() and post_process_model() so the engine can be driven directly.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is toward a reusable C++ core with thin language bindings. The timing code that lived inside profoc was extracted into the standalone rcpptimer package in 1.3.2, deliberately so other R packages and Python projects could use it through cpptimer and cppytimer, and the clock header was reworked in 1.3.1 to maximise the code shared between the R and Python versions. Method work sits earlier in the history - periodic splines and penalties in 1.2.0, the penalty() function in 1.1.0 - while the recent cadence, a single release in the last sixteen months, points at a package the maintainer considers finished.
◆ Prediction
The repeated references to future Python use suggest the next significant work happens outside this package, in the shared C++ components, rather than in profoc's R surface.
Alternatives to mize and profoc
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 mize or profoc.
bsvarSIGNs
Sign, zero and narrative restrictions brought into the bsvars ecosystem.
estimatr
Fast design-based estimators for experiments, coasting on CRAN patches.
ggdist
The grammar of uncertainty visualization, now drawing the uncertainty in its own estimates.
ipaddress
IP address vectors for R that hit 1.0 and then went quiet.
ltertools
A column-key toolkit for stitching decades of ecological field data into one table.
Recent activity from mize and profoc
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agomizeCRAN compliance patch after five years of silence
- 6mo agoprofocCRAN compliance fix removing a namespace directive
- 1y agoprofocTimer integration updated to the stable rcpptimer API
- 2y agoprofocTiming code extracted into the standalone rcpptimer package
- 2y agoprofocInteger overflow fix and Welford timing statistics
- 2y agoprofocThe conline C++ class opens up to R users
- 2y agoprofocQuantile crossing flagged and tidy methods added
- 5y agomizeBacktracking line search reporting and documentation fix
- 6y agomizeR-devel compatibility fix for class checking
- 7y agomizeSchmidt line search error when the evaluation budget is exhausted
- 7y agomizeStage check fix for bold driver and backtracking
- 9y agomizeCRAN release 0.1.1
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mize and profoc?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. mize and profoc 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 mize better than profoc?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. mize and profoc 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 mize?
Top mize alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mize alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mize for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to profoc?
Top profoc alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "profoc alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/profoc for the full list with editorial commentary on each.