Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
Comparison · Analytics
sftime vs tidytlg
A side-by-side editorial comparison of sftime and tidytlg — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
sftime vs tidytlg: at a glance
What is sftime?
The spatiotemporal companion to sf, moving at the pace of the packages around it.
sftime extends sf with an active time column, giving R a data frame class for data that is both spatial and temporal. Its recent history is almost entirely integration work: 0.3.0 added conversion methods from spatstat point patterns, sftrack and sftraj movement objects and cubble data frames, plus dedicated tidyr::drop_na() and dplyr::dplyr_reconstruct() methods. The two releases since are a namespace version-check correction and a switch from the magrittr pipe to the native pipe in examples.
What is tidytlg?
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
tidytlg generates clinical tables, listings, and graphs from tidyverse-style pipelines, maintained under the pharmaverse organisation. All four releases in the window are from a single eight-month stretch in 2023, and their content is CRAN preparation, a logging-dependency swap, and multi-file support. Release notes are merge lists rather than described changes.
sftime vs tidytlg: editorial side-by-side
sftime
0.0ANALYTICS
The spatiotemporal companion to sf, moving at the pace of the packages around it.
◆ Current state
sftime extends sf with an active time column, giving R a data frame class for data that is both spatial and temporal. Its recent history is almost entirely integration work: 0.3.0 added conversion methods from spatstat point patterns, sftrack and sftraj movement objects and cubble data frames, plus dedicated tidyr::drop_na() and dplyr::dplyr_reconstruct() methods. The two releases since are a namespace version-check correction and a switch from the magrittr pipe to the native pipe in examples.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's job is to be interoperable, so its releases follow whatever the surrounding spatial and tidyverse packages do. The dplyr_reconstruct() work is the clearest example of why that matters: inheriting sf's method caused column binding to silently return an sf object where an sftime object was expected, which is the kind of class-preservation bug that only surfaces two steps downstream. Development is sparse, roughly one release a year.
◆ Prediction
Expect further conversion methods as new spatiotemporal classes appear in the R spatial ecosystem, and continued tracking of dplyr and tidyr generics. The entries do not indicate any planned change to the sftime class itself.
tidytlg
0.0ANALYTICS
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
◆ Current state
tidytlg generates clinical tables, listings, and graphs from tidyverse-style pipelines, maintained under the pharmaverse organisation. All four releases in the window are from a single eight-month stretch in 2023, and their content is CRAN preparation, a logging-dependency swap, and multi-file support. Release notes are merge lists rather than described changes.
◆ Where it's heading
The visible arc is getting onto CRAN and staying installable — vignette corrections per CRAN comments, a badge, a check fix, and replacing the timber logging package with logrx. The one functional addition is multiple-file support. There has been no release since October 2023, so on this evidence the package is stable or dormant rather than actively developing.
◆ Prediction
The entries give no signal about planned work; with nothing shipped in roughly two years, the more likely next event is a maintenance release triggered by a dependency or CRAN check than a feature.
Alternatives to sftime and tidytlg
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 sftime or tidytlg.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all sftime alternatives → · See all tidytlg alternatives →
Recent activity from sftime and tidytlg
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agosftimeExamples switched to the native R pipe
- 11mo agosftimeFixes the cubble namespace version check
- 1y agosftimeConverts from spatstat, sftrack and cubble objects
- 2y agotidytlgSwaps the timber logger for logrx
- 3y agotidytlgMultiple-file support and table-binding fixes
- 3y agotidytlgVignette update per CRAN comments
- 3y agotidytlgFirst CRAN release
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between sftime and tidytlg?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. sftime and tidytlg 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 sftime better than tidytlg?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. sftime and tidytlg 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 sftime?
Top sftime alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "sftime alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/sftime for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tidytlg?
Top tidytlg alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tidytlg alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tidytlg for the full list with editorial commentary on each.