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seriation vs tern.rbmi

A side-by-side editorial comparison of seriation and tern.rbmi — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

seriation vs tern.rbmi: at a glance

Featureseriationtern.rbmi
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesseriation, matrix-reordering, optimization, clusteringpharmaverse, multiple-imputation, cran-maintenance, tabulation
Last editorial update2h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is seriation?

seriation stopped shipping algorithms and started shipping a way to pick between them.

seriation finds meaningful orderings for matrices, distance objects and dendrograms, and carries a large registry of methods from classic combinatorial criteria to t-SNE and UMAP embeddings. The 1.5.0 release added a layer above that registry — seriate_best(), seriate_rep() and seriate_improve() — which run randomized methods repeatedly, in parallel, and keep the best result. Recent work is definitional and numeric rather than additive: 1.5.8 corrects the linear seriation criterion to match Hubert and Schultz's original 1976 definition.

Read the full seriation trajectory →

What is tern.rbmi?

Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.

tern.rbmi renders the output of {rbmi} reference-based multiple imputation analyses into tern tables for clinical reporting. Its three most recent releases exist to satisfy CRAN: restricting vignette builds to gcc, adding V8 to Suggests, and a plain resubmission. No user-facing functionality has changed in the visible window, and the three older entries now backfilled are version-bump automation.

Read the full tern.rbmi trajectory →

seriation vs tern.rbmi: editorial side-by-side

S
seriation
ANALYTICS
0.0

seriation stopped shipping algorithms and started shipping a way to pick between them.

◆ Current state

seriation finds meaningful orderings for matrices, distance objects and dendrograms, and carries a large registry of methods from classic combinatorial criteria to t-SNE and UMAP embeddings. The 1.5.0 release added a layer above that registry — seriate_best(), seriate_rep() and seriate_improve() — which run randomized methods repeatedly, in parallel, and keep the best result. Recent work is definitional and numeric rather than additive: 1.5.8 corrects the linear seriation criterion to match Hubert and Schultz's original 1976 definition.

◆ Where it's heading

The package has shifted from breadth to judgment. Through 1.3.x the additions were new methods; from 1.5.0 the registry started carrying metadata about the methods — whether they are randomized, what criterion they optimize — so the package could choose and evaluate on the user's behalf. The 1.5.6 replacement of FORTRAN with C for BEA and ME points the same way, reducing the legacy surface underneath that machinery.

◆ Prediction

Further criterion audits are the likeliest next move, since 1.5.8 shows a published definition being reconciled against the implementation and the registry now records what each method optimizes. Expect corrections rather than new seriation algorithms.

T
tern.rbmi
ANALYTICS
0.0

Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.

◆ Current state

tern.rbmi renders the output of {rbmi} reference-based multiple imputation analyses into tern tables for clinical reporting. Its three most recent releases exist to satisfy CRAN: restricting vignette builds to gcc, adding V8 to Suggests, and a plain resubmission. No user-facing functionality has changed in the visible window, and the three older entries now backfilled are version-bump automation.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a thin adapter package and behaves like one — it moves when CRAN or an upstream dependency forces it to. Between 2022 and 2024 the feed shows only version bumps, and the 2025 releases are packaging concerns rather than analysis changes. The newly surfaced 2022 entries reinforce rather than change that reading.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release to be triggered by a CRAN check failure or an {rbmi} update rather than by new tabulation features.

Alternatives to seriation and tern.rbmi

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 seriation or tern.rbmi.

See all seriation alternatives → · See all tern.rbmi alternatives →

Recent activity from seriation and tern.rbmi

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 0y agoseriationseriation 1.5.8 realigns linear criterion with Hubert and Schultz
  2. 1y agotern.rbmiVignette built only under gcc
  3. 1y agotern.rbmiV8 added to Suggests
  4. 1y agoseriationseriation 1.5.7 adds BK_unconstrained, handles tiny inputs
  5. 1y agotern.rbmiCRAN resubmission with dependency and workflow updates
  6. 1y agoseriationseriation 1.5.6 replaces FORTRAN BEA with C, modernizes allocation
  7. 2y agoseriationseriation 1.5.5 digest: AOE method, rep parameter, MDS_angle fix
  8. 3y agoseriationseriation 1.5.1 refines pimage, permute and hmap
  9. 3y agoseriationseriation 1.5.0 adds seriate_best and parallel repeated search
  10. 3y agotern.rbmiAutomated release commit for 0.1.1
  11. 4y agotern.rbmiDevelopment version bump to 0.1.0.9004
  12. 4y agotern.rbmiCI automation commit, no release content

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between seriation and tern.rbmi?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. seriation and tern.rbmi 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 seriation better than tern.rbmi?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. seriation and tern.rbmi 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 seriation?

Top seriation alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "seriation alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/seriation-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to tern.rbmi?

Top tern.rbmi alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tern.rbmi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tern-rbmi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.