[R-sig-ME] Upcoming changes in lme4

[Douglas Bates]

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 3:20 PM, ken knoblauch <ken.knoblauch at inserm.fr> wrote:
> Douglas Bates <bates at ...> writes:
>
>>
>> We (the lme4 authors) have mentioned on this list that we are
>> preparing a new version of lme4 that will provide enhanced
>> capabilities.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the
>> internal representation of the model has been changed yet again.  If
>> your use of the lme4 package is through the exported functions only
>> you should be okay.  However, if you find problems then please report
>> them to us either in email <lme4-authors at ...> or on
>> the bug-tracker at R-forge,
>>
>>>>>> snip for gmane >>>>>>>>
>
>>
>> An alpha-test release will be made available on the R-forge archive
>> but *not* uploaded to CRAN.  If you use lme4 extensively please test
>> this release by installing from the R-forge archive and telling us if
>> there are problems with your code.  This way you can still back out to
>> the current release by removing the lme4 package and reinstalling from
>> CRAN.  Once the new lme4 has been released to CRAN it will be much
>> more difficult to back out that installation.
>>
>> Authors of packages that depend on lme4 will get a separate message
>> off-list about testing and suggested modifications.
>>
>> Thanks for your cooperation.  We do honestly believe that this change
>> will provide an improved capability for fitting and analyzing
>> mixed-effects models.
>>
> I echo the thanks and congratulations of the other members of the list.
>
> Will the link functions for glmer be built-in as currently with lme4 or
> will it be possible to provide customized links in R code as currently
> with lme4a?

Both.  Standard families (binomial, Gamma, gaussian, inverse.gaussian)
with typical links are evaluated in compiled code.  If the family is
not available in compiled code then callbacks to the R functions in
the family are used.

We are quite interested in collaborating with you to ensure that your
families in the psyphy package that allow asymptotes on binomial
probabilities can be used.