qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
parallelDist vs quantities
A side-by-side editorial comparison of parallelDist and quantities — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
parallelDist vs quantities: at a glance
What is parallelDist?
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
parallelDist computes distance matrices across threads in C++ via RcppParallel and Armadillo. The feature set has been settled since 0.2.3 in 2018, which added hamming distance and cosine similarity; everything after that is compatibility work. The most recent release, 0.2.7, exists only to drop a C++11 pin that newer Armadillo versions no longer tolerate.
What is quantities?
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
parallelDist vs quantities: editorial side-by-side
parallelDist
0.0ANALYTICS
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
◆ Current state
parallelDist computes distance matrices across threads in C++ via RcppParallel and Armadillo. The feature set has been settled since 0.2.3 in 2018, which added hamming distance and cosine similarity; everything after that is compatibility work. The most recent release, 0.2.7, exists only to drop a C++11 pin that newer Armadillo versions no longer tolerate.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being kept installable, not developed. The three most recent releases are a toolchain pin removal, a DESCRIPTION field removal, and a coercion change inherited from proxy — none originate from user-facing intent. Gaps of three to four years between releases are the norm now, and each one is triggered by something upstream breaking rather than by a roadmap.
◆ Prediction
The next release will almost certainly be another compatibility fix timed to whatever Armadillo, Rcpp or CRAN check policy changes next. Nothing in the entries points to new distance measures or API work.
quantities
0.0ANALYTICS
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
◆ Current state
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.
Alternatives to parallelDist and quantities
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 parallelDist or quantities.
constants
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
See all parallelDist alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →
Recent activity from parallelDist and quantities
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 10mo agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.7 drops the C++11 pin for newer Armadillo
- 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
- 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
- 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
- 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
- 4y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.6: LazyData removed, vignette font swapped
- 4y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.5 changes cosine distance to 1-x
- 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.4 fixes the Solaris build
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.3 adds hamming and cosine measures
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.2
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between parallelDist and quantities?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. parallelDist and quantities 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 parallelDist better than quantities?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. parallelDist and quantities 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 parallelDist?
Top parallelDist alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "parallelDist alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/paralleldist for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to quantities?
Top quantities alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "quantities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quantities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.