ggpointless
ggpointless keeps adding the ggplot2 layers nobody else bothered to write.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
campsis vs valr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of campsis and valr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
campsis vs valr: at a glance
What is campsis?
Campsis breaks its API on purpose: snake_case throughout, RxODE compatibility cut loose.
Campsis runs clinical-trial simulations from pharmacometric models, sitting on mrgsolve and rxode2 as interchangeable engines, with the sibling package Campsismod supplying the model object layer. Version 1.9.0 is the release where the suite stops carrying its history: the whole API migrates to snake_case, backward compatibility with the old RxODE package is removed, and result processing is refactored into output functions that can be applied as a collection, with an NCA table the first substantial one. Campsismod made the same snake_case move a week earlier, so this is a suite-wide rename rather than one package's decision.
What is valr?
valr's interval verbs now read genomic files in place instead of demanding a loaded tibble.
valr reimplements bedtools-style genome interval arithmetic as tidyverse verbs backed by C++. Its long project has been closing the behavioural gap with bedtools — the book-ended interval semantics finally match in 0.10.0, three releases after the deprecation began. The July release also ends the assumption that intervals must be in memory: bed_map(), bed_intersect(), bed_subtract(), bed_coverage() and bed_window() accept a bigWig or bigBed path or URL where an interval table used to go.
campsis vs valr: editorial side-by-side
campsis
3.8INFRA · APIS
Campsis breaks its API on purpose: snake_case throughout, RxODE compatibility cut loose.
◆ Current state
Campsis runs clinical-trial simulations from pharmacometric models, sitting on mrgsolve and rxode2 as interchangeable engines, with the sibling package Campsismod supplying the model object layer. Version 1.9.0 is the release where the suite stops carrying its history: the whole API migrates to snake_case, backward compatibility with the old RxODE package is removed, and result processing is refactored into output functions that can be applied as a collection, with an NCA table the first substantial one. Campsismod made the same snake_case move a week earlier, so this is a suite-wide rename rather than one package's decision.
◆ Where it's heading
The 1.8 and 1.9 releases together describe a package being made drivable from outside R. JSON interfaces arrived first for models in Campsismod 1.3.0 and for datasets in Campsis 1.8.0, then extended to scenarios, settings and study replication; the output side has now been generalised the same way, from fixed result processing to a collection of output functions applied to simulated results. Renaming every function and cutting RxODE loose is the cost of that consolidation, paid in one deliberate breaking release rather than spread across several.
◆ Prediction
With the rename and the RxODE removal behind it, the next releases should restore the rxode2 engine to the test suite, which 1.9.0 removed temporarily, and continue filling out the output-function catalogue beyond NCA. The JSON surface looks like the intended entry point for driving Campsis from outside R, though the entries do not say what is meant to consume it.
valr
0.0INFRA · APIS
valr's interval verbs now read genomic files in place instead of demanding a loaded tibble.
◆ Current state
valr reimplements bedtools-style genome interval arithmetic as tidyverse verbs backed by C++. Its long project has been closing the behavioural gap with bedtools — the book-ended interval semantics finally match in 0.10.0, three releases after the deprecation began. The July release also ends the assumption that intervals must be in memory: bed_map(), bed_intersect(), bed_subtract(), bed_coverage() and bed_window() accept a bigWig or bigBed path or URL where an interval table used to go.
◆ Where it's heading
Two arcs converge here. One is compatibility: min_overlap arrived with a deprecation warning in 0.9.0 and its default flipped from 0 to 1 in 0.10.0, so book-ended intervals are excluded by default as bedtools does, with the internal calculations in bed_closest() and friends deliberately left counting them. The other is the file-backed path, which grew out of the cpp11bigwig dependency adopted in 0.8.3 for read_bigwig() and re-exported in 0.9.0 — reading a file became querying one. Underneath, the C++ base keeps getting lighter: Rcpp swapped for cpp11, rlang cut to a single function, per-group memory copies removed from three verbs.
◆ Prediction
Only five verbs take a file argument today and bed_closest(), bed_glyph() and the statistical verbs do not, so extending the file-backed path across the rest of the API is the obvious follow-up. The deprecated tibble re-exports and the now-defunct n_fields argument suggest continued removal of the compatibility layer in the next minor release.
Alternatives to campsis and valr
Other Infra & APIs 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 campsis or valr.
mpactr
mpactr spent two spring releases normalizing case in metadata after users kept tripping on it.
surveytidy
surveytidy taught every dplyr verb to operate on a whole collection of surveys at once.
surveycore
surveycore declared its API stable with every survey design type covered.
PEIMAN2
PEIMAN2 cut its annotation database loose from its release cycle without breaking CRAN.
prospectr
prospectr spent its biggest release in years fixing spectra it had been quietly mangling.
See all campsis alternatives → · See all valr alternatives →
Recent activity from campsis and valr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15d agocampsissnake_case across the API; RxODE compatibility removed ⚡
- 1mo agovalrInterval verbs read bigWig and bigBed files directly ⚡
- 5mo agocampsisJSON arguments reach Dataset, Scenarios and Settings
- 7mo agovalrbed_slop() and bed_flank() preserve input row order
- 7mo agocampsisMaintenance release for future package warnings
- 7mo agocampsisJSON import for Campsis datasets
- 8mo agovalrmin_overlap introduced; C++ backend moves from Rcpp to cpp11
- 1y agovalrTest updated for ggplot2 3.6.0
- 1y agocampsisDosing gains vectorized compartments and cycle repetition
- 1y agocampsisParameter uncertainty from SIR and bootstrap output
- 1y agovalrread_bigwig() switches to cpp11bigwig; read_gtf() deprecated
- 1y agovalrCRAN Rd link NOTE and maintainer email change
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between campsis and valr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. campsis is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 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 campsis better than valr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. campsis is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to campsis?
Top campsis alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "campsis alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/campsis for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to valr?
Top valr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "valr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/valr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.