[R-sig-ME] Upcoming changes in lme4

[Douglas Bates]

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Douglas Bates <bates at stat.wisc.edu> wrote:
> 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)

I forgot poisson.  It is available in compiled code too.

> 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.