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tern.mmrm vs xts

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

Shared themes:maintenance

tern.mmrm vs xts: at a glance

Featuretern.mmrmxts
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themespharmaverse, mmrm, tabulation, maintenancer, time-series, finance, c-api
Last editorial update45m ago3h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is tern.mmrm?

An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.

tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022, three of which have just been backfilled into the record. The most recent substantive change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.

Read the full tern.mmrm trajectory →

What is xts?

xts is finished software, and its releases now track R's C API more than user requests.

xts is the time-series class underpinning much of R's financial stack, and it behaves like infrastructure: the visible releases are bug fixes, plotting repairs and conformance work. A recurring thread is removing calls R no longer considers public — SET_TYPEOF in 0.14.0 and 0.14.1, then ATTRIB() and SET_ATTRIB() in 0.14.2. Feature additions are rare and small, the last cluster being open-ended time-of-day subsetting and na.fill performance in 0.13.0.

Read the full xts trajectory →

tern.mmrm vs xts: editorial side-by-side

T
tern.mmrm
ANALYTICS
0.0

An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.

◆ Current state

tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022, three of which have just been backfilled into the record. The most recent substantive change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.

◆ Where it's heading

Content per release is thin and largely organisational: a maintainer change, replacing scda with random.cdisc.data in vignettes, and adapting to new {mmrm} versions. The package appears to be in maintenance, tracking its upstream dependency rather than developing independently. The 2022 entries now visible are release-automation commits, not releases in any meaningful sense.

◆ Prediction

Nothing here signals new functionality; the realistic next event is another compatibility release when {mmrm} or {rtables} changes underneath it.

X
xts
ANALYTICS
0.0

xts is finished software, and its releases now track R's C API more than user requests.

◆ Current state

xts is the time-series class underpinning much of R's financial stack, and it behaves like infrastructure: the visible releases are bug fixes, plotting repairs and conformance work. A recurring thread is removing calls R no longer considers public — SET_TYPEOF in 0.14.0 and 0.14.1, then ATTRIB() and SET_ATTRIB() in 0.14.2. Feature additions are rare and small, the last cluster being open-ended time-of-day subsetting and na.fill performance in 0.13.0.

◆ Where it's heading

Two forces drive releases. R core keeps narrowing its public C API, and xts keeps rewriting internals to stay inside it; separately, ggplot-era changes elsewhere in the ecosystem surface plotting bugs that get fixed one report at a time. Nearly every entry credits an outside reporter, which is what maintenance of a dependency this widely used looks like.

◆ Prediction

Further C API conformance work is the safest expectation, since two consecutive releases have each removed a different non-API entry point and R has continued tightening that boundary.

Alternatives to tern.mmrm and xts

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 tern.mmrm or xts.

See all tern.mmrm alternatives → · See all xts alternatives →

Recent activity from tern.mmrm and xts

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

  1. 5mo agoxtsmulti.panel plots beyond 8 columns; SET_TYPEOF removed from C
  2. 5mo agoxtsATTRIB removed from C; rollapply.xts accepts vector widths
  3. 1y agotern.mmrmAxis limits added to the LS-means plot
  4. 2y agotern.mmrmMaintainer change and scda replaced in vignettes
  5. 2y agotern.mmrmCRAN 0.3.0 release, mostly workflow housekeeping
  6. 2y agoxtsMulti-panel event lines; first SET_TYPEOF replacement
  7. 2y agoxtstclass changes now alter index values; log-scale y-axis added
  8. 3y agoxtsUpdate path for pre-0.12 objects missing index attributes
  9. 3y agoxtsOpen-ended time-of-day subsetting; fast scalar na.fill
  10. 3y agotern.mmrmAutomated version bump to 0.2.1
  11. 3y agotern.mmrmPre-release branch merge
  12. 4y agotern.mmrmCI automation commit, no release content

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between tern.mmrm and xts?

Both compete on the same themes — maintenance — within Analytics. tern.mmrm and xts 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 tern.mmrm better than xts?

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

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

What are the best alternatives to xts?

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