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cubist

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R package cubist by topepo — release notes from GitHub.

github.com/topepo/cubist ↗

The R port of Quinlan's Cubist gets reproducibility fixes, not new modelling

machine-learningrule-based-modelstidymodelsreproducibilityr-packagemaintenance
◆Current state
Cubist is the R interface to Quinlan's rule-based regression model, wrapping the original C sources behind an R API and feeding the tidymodels rules package. The 0.6.0 release adds a strip_time_stamps control that removes date, time and duration information from model output, and now errors rather than silently misbehaving when a date or date-time column is passed. Error reporting moves from base stop() and warning() to cli.
◆Where it's heading
The direction is custodial: this is a mature algorithm with a stable definition, so the work is making a decades-old C codebase behave predictably inside a modern R workflow. The reproducibility thread is the clearest one — embedded timestamps mean two identical models compare as different objects, which breaks caching, testing and any workflow that hashes results. Alongside it runs slow C hygiene, from keyword symbol overwrites in 0.5.0 to unused-variable warnings in 0.6.0.
◆Prediction
Expect continued small maintenance releases tracking CRAN compiler requirements and the needs of the rules package, with no change to the modelling algorithm itself.

◆Recent moves

  1. 5mo ago

    strip_time_stamps makes fitted models reproducible

    A new strip_time_stamps control removes embedded date, time and duration information so two fits of the same model compare as equal — the change that makes Cubist objects usable with caching and snapshot testing. Passing a date or date-time column now errors outright instead of producing questionable output, and messages move to cli.

    View source ↗
  2. 9mo ago

    Cubist 0.5.1

    A formatting fix for how rule values are displayed. Cosmetic against the model output, though rule readability is most of what users of a rule-based model look at.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    Cubist 0.5.0

    C code updated to stop overwriting keyword symbols — the kind of latent hazard in ported legacy sources that surfaces only when a compiler gets stricter. No user-visible change.

    View source ↗
  4. 2y ago

    Cubist 0.4.4

    Vignette fixes, including a switch from tidyrules::tidyRules() to rules::tidy(). Documentation catching up with where the tidymodels ecosystem put this functionality.

    View source ↗
  5. 4y ago

    Cubist 0.4.0

    Windows build configuration changes only. Representative of the long stretch where this package's releases existed to keep it compiling on CRAN's machines.

    View source ↗