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Comparison · Infra & APIs
selection.index vs serocalculator
A side-by-side editorial comparison of selection.index and serocalculator — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
selection.index vs serocalculator: at a glance
What is selection.index?
A dormant plant-breeding package returns as a genomic selection index suite
selection.index computes selection indices for plant breeding — weighting several traits into one number breeders can rank on. After two years of silence it shipped 2.0.0 in March 2026, and the package is barely recognisable: snake_case throughout, an Rcpp and RcppEigen computational core, and index families for genomic data, marker data, multi-stage trials and constrained genetic gain sitting beside the original phenotypic ones.
What is serocalculator?
A seroincidence engine grows up: whole API renamed, then clustered survey designs
serocalculator turns cross-sectional antibody measurements into infection-rate estimates, and it spent its last two releases making itself safe to depend on. Version 1.4.0 renamed nearly every user-facing function into a consistent est_seroincidence()/sr_params vocabulary; 1.4.1 shipped the migration crosswalk that admits how much that broke. The newest capability is cluster-robust variance estimation for household- and school-based surveys.
selection.index vs serocalculator: editorial side-by-side
selection.index
0.0INFRA · APIS
A dormant plant-breeding package returns as a genomic selection index suite
◆ Current state
selection.index computes selection indices for plant breeding — weighting several traits into one number breeders can rank on. After two years of silence it shipped 2.0.0 in March 2026, and the package is barely recognisable: snake_case throughout, an Rcpp and RcppEigen computational core, and index families for genomic data, marker data, multi-stage trials and constrained genetic gain sitting beside the original phenotypic ones.
◆ Where it's heading
The first version series added one function at a time — combinatorial indices, then genetic advance, then mean performance under randomised block designs — against a fixed phenotypic framing. Version 2.0.0 abandons that framing rather than extending it. Genomic and marker information become inputs the package understands, multi-cycle simulation becomes a built-in toolset, and the old combinatorial entry points are replaced by a named lpsi(). The 2.0.1 follow-up is entirely CI and numerical-stability work, which reads like a maintainer bracing a much larger surface.
◆ Prediction
A seventeen-runner CI matrix mirroring every CRAN check flavour, added days after 2.0.0, says the immediate concern is keeping a compiled multi-family package green rather than adding to it. Expect stabilisation releases before anything new.
serocalculator
0.0INFRA · APIS
A seroincidence engine grows up: whole API renamed, then clustered survey designs
◆ Current state
serocalculator turns cross-sectional antibody measurements into infection-rate estimates, and it spent its last two releases making itself safe to depend on. Version 1.4.0 renamed nearly every user-facing function into a consistent est_seroincidence()/sr_params vocabulary; 1.4.1 shipped the migration crosswalk that admits how much that broke. The newest capability is cluster-robust variance estimation for household- and school-based surveys.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from method to instrument. Early releases added example data and plotting; recent ones fix the API surface, satisfy CRAN's offline-failure policy, and extend the estimator to sampling designs field epidemiology actually uses — multi-level clustering, stratification, and the two combined. Each release also carries visible refactoring discipline (one function per file, linting, per-PR website previews) that reads like a package preparing for contributors it does not have yet.
◆ Prediction
With cluster_var and stratum_var now threaded through both est_seroincidence() and est_seroincidence_by(), survey weights are the remaining piece of a complex-survey design the sandwich estimator does not cover. The entries do not name it, so read that as direction rather than a promise.
Alternatives to selection.index and serocalculator
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 selection.index or serocalculator.
PINstimation
A market-microstructure toolkit that keeps adding estimators as the papers land.
nzilbb.vowels
A vowel-analysis package trimming dependencies after an email address got it archived.
emuR
The R half of the EMU speech database system, fixing what was quietly broken.
BAS
A Bayesian model-averaging package spending its 2.0 on memory, not methods.
tidyplots
tidyplots keeps rebuilding its own foundations rather than layering around them.
See all selection.index alternatives → · See all serocalculator alternatives →
Recent activity from selection.index and serocalculator
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agoserocalculatorCluster-robust standard errors for household and school surveys ⚡
- 5mo agoselection.indexCI expanded to 17 runners after the 2.0.0 rewrite
- 5mo agoselection.indexGenomic, marker and multi-stage selection indices on an Rcpp core ⚡
- 6mo agoselection.indexUnspecified general performance improvements
- 7mo agoserocalculatorEvery estimation function renamed, plus a simulation-study workflow ⚡
- 1y agoserocalculatorBundled example datasets and a locator to find them
- 2y agoselection.indexMean performance for randomised block designs
- 3y agoselection.indexsel.index() and sel.score.rank() removed for comb.indices()
- 4y agoselection.indexGenetic advance calculation added
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between selection.index and serocalculator?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. selection.index and serocalculator 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 selection.index better than serocalculator?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. selection.index and serocalculator 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 selection.index?
Top selection.index alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "selection.index alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/selection-index for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to serocalculator?
Top serocalculator alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "serocalculator alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/serocalculator for the full list with editorial commentary on each.