nflreadr
The nflverse data loader, whose releases are dictated by the NFL calendar and CRAN's archive policy
Comparison · Analytics
r-owidapi vs semmcci
A side-by-side editorial comparison of r-owidapi and semmcci — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
r-owidapi vs semmcci: at a glance
What is r-owidapi?
The R client for Our World in Data found its search had been reading a tenth of the catalog.
owidapi is a small R client for Our World in Data, covering chart data retrieval, metadata, the full chart catalog, and search over it, with experimental Shiny output helpers. It is three releases old and the most recent one is almost entirely repair: the catalog function was silently truncating at 1000 rows because of a Datasette row cap, which meant search had been operating on a fraction of what exists.
What is semmcci?
Monte Carlo confidence intervals for SEM, now mostly reacting to upstream deprecations
semmcci generates Monte Carlo confidence intervals for structural equation model parameters, working alongside lavaan. Its four-year release history is a run of patch versions from the jeksterslab account, each adding a function or adjusting method detail. The recent ones are quieter still: the latest addresses a lavaan::getCov() deprecation in tests, and the one before it is described only as minor method edits.
r-owidapi vs semmcci: editorial side-by-side
r-owidapi
2.5ANALYTICS
The R client for Our World in Data found its search had been reading a tenth of the catalog.
◆ Current state
owidapi is a small R client for Our World in Data, covering chart data retrieval, metadata, the full chart catalog, and search over it, with experimental Shiny output helpers. It is three releases old and the most recent one is almost entirely repair: the catalog function was silently truncating at 1000 rows because of a Datasette row cap, which meant search had been operating on a fraction of what exists.
◆ Where it's heading
Development is about making a thin wrapper trustworthy against an upstream that moves without notice. The truncation fix pages through the catalog properly; a separate fix stops the function breaking when Our World in Data dropped a column, by parsing typed columns only when present. Tests moved to mocked responses, with a small live suite retained purely to detect schema drift and skipped on CRAN — a sensible design for a package whose main risk is that the API changes shape rather than that the code is wrong. The user-facing surface has not grown since the initial release; the work is in defending it.
◆ Prediction
On this pattern the next release is likelier to be another upstream-compatibility fix than new functionality, with the schema-drift tests the mechanism that surfaces it.
semmcci
0.0ANALYTICS
Monte Carlo confidence intervals for SEM, now mostly reacting to upstream deprecations
◆ Current state
semmcci generates Monte Carlo confidence intervals for structural equation model parameters, working alongside lavaan. Its four-year release history is a run of patch versions from the jeksterslab account, each adding a function or adjusting method detail. The recent ones are quieter still: the latest addresses a lavaan::getCov() deprecation in tests, and the one before it is described only as minor method edits.
◆ Where it's heading
The functional build-out finished some time ago. MCGeneric() in 1.1.3 and Func()/MCFunc() in 1.1.4 opened the package to user-defined functions of parameters, which is the natural end point for a Monte Carlo interval tool — once arbitrary functions are supported, there is little left to add. Since then releases have tracked lavaan's changes rather than semmcci's own direction, and the gap between them has stretched from months to over a year.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be triggered by another lavaan deprecation rather than by new capability.
Alternatives to r-owidapi and semmcci
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 r-owidapi or semmcci.
susier
Fine-mapping workhorse susieR spends its releases hunting null-effect trimming bugs
UCell
A rank-based gene signature scorer that has grown by adapting to whatever object format single-cell R uses next
detectseparation
A diagnostic package that generalized past its own name, then learned to say which kind of separation it found
brglm2
A bias-reduction package reaches 1.0 by adding an estimator built for high-dimensional logistic regression
bayestools
The JAGS toolkit under RoBMA, shipping the standardization machinery its downstream rewrite needed
See all r-owidapi alternatives → · See all semmcci alternatives →
Recent activity from r-owidapi and semmcci
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 20d agor-owidapiCatalog was silently capped at 1000 charts; now paged in full
- 2mo agosemmccilavaan getCov() deprecation handled in tests
- 10mo agosemmcciMinor method edits
- 1y agor-owidapiRequest logic consolidated, with graceful catalog errors
- 1y agor-owidapiFirst release: data, metadata, catalog and search
- 2y agosemmcciUser-defined parameter functions via Func() and MCFunc()
- 2y agosemmcciMCGeneric() opens up arbitrary parameter targets
- 3y agosemmcciMultiple-imputation support via MCMI()
- 3y agosemmcciData generation internals refactored
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between r-owidapi and semmcci?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. r-owidapi 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 r-owidapi better than semmcci?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. r-owidapi 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 r-owidapi?
Top r-owidapi alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "r-owidapi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/r-owidapi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to semmcci?
Top semmcci alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "semmcci alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/semmcci for the full list with editorial commentary on each.