affiner
affiner is quietly turning a grid transformation helper into a small computational geometry library.
Comparison · Analytics
n1qn1c vs units
A side-by-side editorial comparison of n1qn1c and units — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
n1qn1c vs units: at a glance
What is n1qn1c?
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
n1qn1c is a quasi-Newton optimization routine translated from Fortran to C, used as a solver backend by the nlmixr2 modeling stack rather than called directly by most users. Its two 2026 releases are a concentrated safety pass: global state converted to thread_local, static removed from local variables in the translated code, integer overflow guards added, and memory leaks closed in the R callback wrappers — plus the gcc-asan and valgrind fixes CRAN asked for.
What is units?
units reaches 1.0 by rewriting its parser and accepting the breakage that comes with it.
units attaches physical units to R vectors on top of the udunits2 library, covering arithmetic, conversion and ggplot2 scales. Version 1.0-0 replaced the unit-expression tokenizer so numbers are consistently treated as prefixes, and expressions like ml/min/1.73m^2 now parse the way physiologists write them. Printing follows NIST conventions, and 1.0-1 is a fix pass over memory handling and parser edge cases.
n1qn1c vs units: editorial side-by-side
n1qn1c
0.0ANALYTICS
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
◆ Current state
n1qn1c is a quasi-Newton optimization routine translated from Fortran to C, used as a solver backend by the nlmixr2 modeling stack rather than called directly by most users. Its two 2026 releases are a concentrated safety pass: global state converted to thread_local, static removed from local variables in the translated code, integer overflow guards added, and memory leaks closed in the R callback wrappers — plus the gcc-asan and valgrind fixes CRAN asked for.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being hardened for use inside a parallel modeling framework rather than extended. The audit that produced the thread-safety work also surfaced two plain bugs in features users would have assumed worked: restart = TRUE left the mode at 2 instead of 3 because of a typo, and assign = TRUE referenced the wrong field name so the compressed Hessian was never written to the supplied environment. Earlier work points the same direction — the 6.0.1-12 function-pointer interface exists so nlmixr2est does not need resubmission when this package changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect further memory-safety and sanitizer work rather than algorithmic change; a Fortran-translated numerical core under CRAN's checking regime generates that kind of release indefinitely.
units
0.0ANALYTICS
units reaches 1.0 by rewriting its parser and accepting the breakage that comes with it.
◆ Current state
units attaches physical units to R vectors on top of the udunits2 library, covering arithmetic, conversion and ggplot2 scales. Version 1.0-0 replaced the unit-expression tokenizer so numbers are consistently treated as prefixes, and expressions like ml/min/1.73m^2 now parse the way physiologists write them. Printing follows NIST conventions, and 1.0-1 is a fix pass over memory handling and parser edge cases.
◆ Where it's heading
The long 0.8-x run was accretion — ggplot2 scales absorbed from ggforce, ud_convert(), matrix methods, steady performance work — while known parsing defects stayed in place. The 1.0 release finally traded backwards compatibility for correct parsing, and 1.0-1's pointer-wrapping and exception-propagation work suggests the C++ glue is being hardened behind it. Fixes cluster at the udunits2 boundary, which remains the main source of surprises.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued patch releases against udunits2 quirks and the new tokenizer's fallout rather than new surface area, with the ggplot2 integration and conversion helpers already in place.
Alternatives to n1qn1c and units
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 n1qn1c or units.
ageproR
ageproR spent two years chasing a moving file format, then added the recruitment models that justify the effort.
r-ledger
ledger adds a Rust toolchain fallback, so beancount imports work whether or not the Python tooling is installed.
gridpattern
gridpattern keeps widening its catalogue, and the newest patterns finally use the device's own line rendering.
distributional
distributional taught + and - to work on any pair of distributions, closing the algebra it started with.
ardlverse
An outside audit against Stata found seven errors in ardlverse's panel estimator, including regressions with no intercept.
See all n1qn1c alternatives → · See all units alternatives →
Recent activity from n1qn1c and units
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agon1qn1crestart and assign flags fixed; sanitizer issues cleared
- 4mo agon1qn1cGlobal state converted to thread_local
- 5mo agounitsMemory-leak and udunits2 parsing fixes after 1.0
- 10mo agounitsNew tokenizer parses compound units correctly ⚡
- 1y agounitsCopy semantics fix in ud_convert(); C++17 for old R
- 1y agounitscbind/rbind methods, ud_convert() and broad fixes
- 1y agounitsSilences a CRAN compiler warning
- 1y agon1qn1cFunction-pointer API decouples nlmixr2est releases
- 2y agounitsRestores simplify=FALSE for identical units
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between n1qn1c and units?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. n1qn1c and units 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 n1qn1c better than units?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. n1qn1c and units 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 n1qn1c?
Top n1qn1c alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "n1qn1c alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/n1qn1c for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to units?
Top units alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "units alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/units-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.