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silx vs tglkmeans

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

silx vs tglkmeans: at a glance

Featuresilxtglkmeans
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score5.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesscientific-computing, data-visualization, synchrotron, qtr-package, clustering, missing-data, correctness
Last editorial update2h ago1d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is silx?

silx settles into maintenance a release after its PySide6 migration

silx is in the quiet phase after a generational release. 3.1.1 is a single fix to FitWidget loading a fit function from file. The release before it, 3.1.0, was the first real feature work since the migration - asinh axis scaling, twilight colormaps, and dark-theme icons - and 3.0.1 was similarly small. The 3.0.0 cut that reset the Qt binding and Python floor still defines what the line is doing.

Read the full silx trajectory →

What is tglkmeans?

A k-means implementation that just told users their Spearman clustering on missing data was wrong

tglkmeans is a multi-core k-means implementation with seeding, aimed at single-cell and other large matrix workloads. Version 0.4.0 flipped the id_column default and moved to R's random number generator, 0.5.x added count-matrix downsampling and fixed id handling, and 0.6.3 in May 2026 is a correctness release: Spearman distance was ranking missing values as the largest value instead of dropping them, and predict_tgl_kmeans() with Euclidean distance did not reproduce the training metric when a cluster center had a missing dimension.

Read the full tglkmeans trajectory →

silx vs tglkmeans: editorial side-by-side

S
silx
ANALYTICS
5.0

silx settles into maintenance a release after its PySide6 migration

◆ Current state

silx is in the quiet phase after a generational release. 3.1.1 is a single fix to FitWidget loading a fit function from file. The release before it, 3.1.0, was the first real feature work since the migration - asinh axis scaling, twilight colormaps, and dark-theme icons - and 3.0.1 was similarly small. The 3.0.0 cut that reset the Qt binding and Python floor still defines what the line is doing.

◆ Where it's heading

The cadence has slowed markedly since April, and the content has shifted from structural change to plotting and colormap refinement. That is the expected shape after a binding migration: downstream beamline code needs a stable target, so the project trades feature velocity for a quiet surface. The gap between 3.0.1 in May and 3.1.0 in August is the clearest signal of the deliberate slowdown.

◆ Prediction

Expect further point releases servicing the plotting and fitting widgets rather than another structural change, with feature work continuing to arrive in the 3.1.x minors rather than patches.

T
tglkmeans
ANALYTICS
0.0

A k-means implementation that just told users their Spearman clustering on missing data was wrong

◆ Current state

tglkmeans is a multi-core k-means implementation with seeding, aimed at single-cell and other large matrix workloads. Version 0.4.0 flipped the id_column default and moved to R's random number generator, 0.5.x added count-matrix downsampling and fixed id handling, and 0.6.3 in May 2026 is a correctness release: Spearman distance was ranking missing values as the largest value instead of dropping them, and predict_tgl_kmeans() with Euclidean distance did not reproduce the training metric when a cluster center had a missing dimension.

◆ Where it's heading

The package handles missing data across three distance metrics, and 0.6.3 shows those paths had drifted apart — Spearman behaved unlike Euclidean and Pearson, and prediction behaved unlike training. Both fixes change results on affected data, and the release notes are careful to bound exactly where: Spearman on data with NAs changes, complete data does not. Performance work runs alongside, with the dense per-thread vote matrix removed from the reassignment step.

◆ Prediction

With the metric paths now aligned on missing-value handling, further work is more likely to target the parallel reassignment internals than the distance semantics.

Alternatives to silx and tglkmeans

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 silx or tglkmeans.

See all silx alternatives → · See all tglkmeans alternatives →

Recent activity from silx and tglkmeans

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

  1. 5h agosilxFitWidget fix for loading a fit function from file
  2. 9d agosilx3.1.0: asinh axis scaling, twilight colormaps, dark-theme icons
  3. 2mo agotglkmeansSpearman metric no longer ranks missing values as the largest
  4. 3mo agosilx3.0.1: silx view fails to disable HDF5 file locking
  5. 3mo agosilx3.0.0: PySide6 becomes the default Qt binding, Python 3.10 required
  6. 3mo agosilx3.0.0rc1: release candidate for the PySide6 migration
  7. 1y agosilx2.2.2: plot axes limits, OpenGL axes and libhdf5 1.14 fixes
  8. 2y agotglkmeansFixes corrupted cluster ids and dropped dimnames
  9. 2y agotglkmeansAdds downsample_matrix() for count matrices
  10. 2y agotglkmeansBreaking: id_column defaults to FALSE, switches to R's RNG

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between silx and tglkmeans?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. silx is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 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 silx better than tglkmeans?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. silx is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 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 silx?

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

What are the best alternatives to tglkmeans?

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