distributions3
distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.
Comparison · Analytics
rncl vs spanishoddata
A side-by-side editorial comparison of rncl and spanishoddata — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
rncl vs spanishoddata: at a glance
What is rncl?
A phylogenetics parser on life support, shipping only what CRAN's compilers demand.
rncl wraps the Nexus Class Library so R can read Newick and NEXUS tree files. Every release since 2016 has been custodial: 0.8.9 exists solely to pull upstream NCL changes so the bundled C++ compiles under the C++20 standard. No user-facing function has changed in close to a decade.
What is spanishoddata?
spanishoddata spent a year finding out its 2020-2021 data was quietly incomplete.
spanishoddata provides access to Spain's open mobility origin-destination datasets from the Ministry of Transport, converting them into DuckDB and parquet for analysis at scale. Nearly every release in this window is a data-fidelity fix rather than a feature: district-to-municipal reaggregation was wrong for the 2020-2021 vintage, literal 'NA' strings in the source CSVs broke DuckDB enum casting, and the Amazon S3 metadata bucket turned out to be truncated at March 2021, silently hiding data.
rncl vs spanishoddata: editorial side-by-side
rncl
2.5ANALYTICS
A phylogenetics parser on life support, shipping only what CRAN's compilers demand.
◆ Current state
rncl wraps the Nexus Class Library so R can read Newick and NEXUS tree files. Every release since 2016 has been custodial: 0.8.9 exists solely to pull upstream NCL changes so the bundled C++ compiles under the C++20 standard. No user-facing function has changed in close to a decade.
◆ Where it's heading
The release cadence tracks toolchain deprecations rather than user demand: gcc 12 removing binary_function in 2022, a deprecated Rcpp call in 2025, C++20 in 2026. The package is maintained as a stable parsing dependency for phylogenetics tooling, and the goal visible in these entries is keeping it installable, not extending it.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release only when a compiler or CRAN policy change breaks the build again; nothing in these entries points to new parsing features.
spanishoddata
0.0ANALYTICS
spanishoddata spent a year finding out its 2020-2021 data was quietly incomplete.
◆ Current state
spanishoddata provides access to Spain's open mobility origin-destination datasets from the Ministry of Transport, converting them into DuckDB and parquet for analysis at scale. Nearly every release in this window is a data-fidelity fix rather than a feature: district-to-municipal reaggregation was wrong for the 2020-2021 vintage, literal 'NA' strings in the source CSVs broke DuckDB enum casting, and the Amazon S3 metadata bucket turned out to be truncated at March 2021, silently hiding data.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is in a trust-building phase. The pattern across 0.2.1 through 0.2.6 is the maintainers repeatedly discovering that upstream metadata and the package's own aggregation were misrepresenting what data existed, then fixing it and adding a check so it surfaces next time. That is now backed by infrastructure: comprehensive unit tests plus weekly live-data runs on GitHub workers that alert maintainers when the upstream ministry changes something. The last feature release sits outside the six-entry window, which is itself the story.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued upstream-tracking fixes as the ministry's API and S3 layout shift, with the experimental quick-access and checksum functions the most likely candidates for promotion to stable.
Alternatives to rncl and spanishoddata
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 rncl or spanishoddata.
mizer
After two and a half years dormant, mizer shipped three major versions in seven weeks.
vellumplot
vellumplot tags its first release with a bet most R grammars don't make: the static figure and the widget are the same object.
vellum
vellum's bugs are now found by using it, not testing it — the downstream grammar is doing the QA.
n2kanalysis
n2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
n1qn1c
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
See all rncl alternatives → · See all spanishoddata alternatives →
Recent activity from rncl and spanishoddata
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15d agornclNCL sources refreshed for C++20 compilation
- 2mo agospanishoddataRedirected district files identified in v1 metadata
- 2mo agospanishoddataS3 metadata truncation at March 2021 bypassed via XML feed
- 4mo agospanishoddataLiteral NA strings no longer break DuckDB casting
- 4mo agospanishoddataLarge urban area zones can be reloaded again
- 5mo agospanishoddatatime_slot column removed; test coverage goes live-weekly
- 8mo agornclDeprecated Rcpp call removed in maintenance release
- 1y agospanishoddataDistrict-to-municipal reaggregation corrected for 2020-2021
- 4y agornclBuild fixed for gcc 12 and clang 14
- 6y agornclMaintenance release clearing CRAN check warnings
- 8y agornclCRAN check notes and warnings cleared
- 9y agornclSingleton removal moves to C++ for a 3x speedup
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rncl and spanishoddata?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rncl 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 rncl better than spanishoddata?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rncl 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 rncl?
Top rncl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rncl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rncl-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to spanishoddata?
Top spanishoddata alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spanishoddata alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spanishoddata for the full list with editorial commentary on each.