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nat.nblast

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Velocity0.0

R package nat.nblast by natverse — release notes from GitHub.

github.com/natverse/nat.nblast ↗

The NBLAST neuron-similarity engine is stable code on life support, shipping once every few years.

neuroscienceneuron-morphologynatversesimilarity-searchmaintenance-moder-package
◆Current state
nat.nblast implements NBLAST, the pairwise neuron-morphology similarity algorithm used across the natverse for matching and clustering traced neurons — nblast(), nhclust() and the scoring-matrix machinery around them. The algorithm and its interface have not changed in a decade of releases; recent work is CRAN compliance and build infrastructure.
◆Where it's heading
The four-year gap between 1.6.6 and 1.6.8 says most of it: this is finished code being kept on CRAN rather than a package under development. The 1.6.8 release fixes Rd cross-references and moves continuous integration to GitHub Actions, with no user-facing change at all. The last release that altered numerical output was 1.6.6 in 2021.
◆Prediction
Expect further releases only when CRAN check policy or a natverse dependency forces one. Nothing in these entries suggests algorithmic work is underway.

◆Recent moves

  1. 0y ago

    CRAN cross-reference fixes and GitHub Actions setup

    Fixes Rd cross-references for CRAN and sets up GitHub Actions for checks and documentation. Infrastructure work after a four-year silence; nothing in the scoring path changes.

    View source ↗
  2. 5y ago

    Scale factor retained when normalising scores

    Normalisation now retains the scale factor rather than discarding it, which changes the similarity scores users get back. Small in code, but the most recent release to affect actual NBLAST output.

    View source ↗
  3. 7y ago

    nhclust accepts score matrices directly

    nhclust() accepts a score matrix as its first argument, with a warning, loosening the calling convention for clustering precomputed similarities. show_similarity() gets fixes and examples, and the vignette moves to rmarkdown.

    View source ↗
  4. 7y ago

    R 3.3 compatibility fixes and first vignette

    Compatibility fixes for R 3.3, a vignette, and a simplified Travis configuration. Note this entry and 1.6.3 are stamped roughly a minute apart — two tags cut in the same sitting, not separate release events.

    View source ↗
  5. 11y ago

    Package test fixes only

    A development tag carrying only test fixes since 1.6.0, as the body states outright. No user-visible change.

    View source ↗