# `sparse_pls_da` — Sparse PLS-DA (Lê Cao 2008)
_Group_: **Sparse** · _Registry tolerance_: `1e-08`
## Description
Sparse PLS-DA (§7)
From the `pls4all.sklearn.SparsePLSDAClassifier` docstring:
> Sparse PLS-DA classifier.
> **Registry note** — R `spls::splsda` uses an LDA classifier on PLS scores; pls4all and `SparsePlsDaPythonReference` use argmax of the regression decision scores. Both emit one-hot predictions; differences appear only at the decision boundary.
### Parameters
| Name | Type | Default | Notes |
|------|------|---------|-------|
| `n_components` | `int` | `2` | Number of latent components extracted (k). |
| `sparsity_lambda` | `float` | `0.05` | L1 soft-threshold magnitude applied to the PLS weight vectors. |
| `n_classes` | `int` | `3` | registry benchmark cell value |
## Explanations
### Bibliographic source
Lê Cao, K.-A., Rossouw, D., Robert-Granié, C. & Besse, P. (2008). *A sparse PLS for variable selection when integrating omics data*. Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology 7(1).
### Mathematical principle
Discriminant variant of sparse PLS. Encode class labels $y \in \{0, 1, \ldots, C-1\}$ as a one-hot matrix $\mathbf{Y} \in \{0, 1\}^{n \times C}$, fit a sparse PLS regression on it, then assign new samples to the class with the largest predicted score. The L1 penalty selects a discriminative subset of features along each latent direction.
In high-dimensional biomarker discovery (microarray, MALDI-TOF, NIR food classification) sparse PLS-DA is a standard since it simultaneously builds the discriminant and shortlists the candidate markers in a single regularised fit. Class probabilities follow from a softmax over the predicted score columns.
### Implementation
`n4m_estimators_sparse_pls_da_fit`. Reference: Bioconductor `mixOmics::splsda`.
R roxygen note (`methods_extra.R::sparse_pls_da_fit`):
> Sparse PLS-DA classifier (`y_labels` is an integer vector of class IDs).
> @param y_labels Integer vector. Class labels.
> @param n_components Integer. Number of latent components.
> @param sparsity_lambda Method-specific parameter. See the underlying `*_fit()` function for the exact semantics.
> @param X Numeric matrix of predictors (rows = samples, cols = features).
> @export
MATLAB header (`bindings/matlab/+pls4all/sparse_pls_da.m`):
```text
pls4all.sparse_pls_da Sparse PLS-DA classifier (Chun & Keles 2010 + DA).
y_labels: integer class IDs in {0, …, n_classes-1}.
```
### Usage
Every pls4all binding tab dispatches into the same C kernel; the external libraries listed at the bottom of the page are the parity references registered in `benchmarks.parity_timing.registry`. Switch tabs to read the same fit in your language. The R package now ships drop-in-compatible facades for the CRAN `pls` package (`plsr`, `pcr`, `mvr`) and for the `mdatools::pls(x, y, ...)` matrix idiom — those tabs appear only on the methods that have a meaningful equivalence.
**pls4all bindings**
::::{tab-set}
:class: pls4all-bindings
:::{tab-item} C ABI · libn4m
:sync: c
:class-label: lang-c
```c
/* C ABI — libn4m */
n4m_context_t* ctx = n4m_context_create();
n4m_config_t* cfg = n4m_config_create();
n4m_method_result_t* res = NULL;
n4m_estimators_sparse_pls_da_fit(ctx, cfg, &x_view, &y_view, /* hyperparams */, &res);
/* … read coefficients / mask / scores via */
/* n4m_method_result_get_double_matrix / vector / scalar … */
n4m_method_result_destroy(res);
n4m_config_destroy(cfg);
n4m_context_destroy(ctx);
```
:::
:::{tab-item} Python · pls4all (raw)
:sync: python-raw
:class-label: lang-python
```python
import pls4all
from pls4all._methods import sparse_pls_da_fit
with pls4all.Context() as ctx, pls4all.Config() as cfg:
res = sparse_pls_da_fit(ctx, cfg, X, y, n_components=4, y_labels=y_labels)
# then: res.matrix("predictions"), res.matrix("coefficients"),
# res.vector("mask"), res.scalar("intercept"), …
```
:::
:::{tab-item} Python · pls4all.sklearn
:sync: python-sklearn
:class-label: lang-python
```python
from pls4all.sklearn import SparsePLSDAClassifier
mdl = SparsePLSDAClassifier(n_components=2, sparsity_lambda=0.05)
mdl.fit(X, y)
y_hat = mdl.predict(X_test)
```
:::
:::{tab-item} R · pls4all_method()
:sync: r-dispatcher
:class-label: lang-r
```r
library(pls4all)
# Unified low-level dispatcher (May 2026 R cleanup):
res <- pls4all_method("sparse_pls_da", X, y,
n_components = 4L, params = list(sparsity_lambda = 0.05, n_classes = 3L))
# res is a named list with MethodResult arrays/scalars.
# selected_indices / top_k_intervals are 1-based.
```
:::
:::{tab-item} R · pls4all (raw fn)
:sync: r-raw
:class-label: lang-r
```r
library(pls4all)
res <- sparse_pls_da_fit(X, y_labels, n_components, sparsity_lambda = 0.05)
yhat <- pls4all_predict(res, X_test)
```
:::
:::{tab-item} MATLAB · pls4all (MEX)
:sync: matlab-mex
:class-label: lang-matlab
```matlab
res = pls4all.sparse_pls_da(X, y, 4);
% see header of bindings/matlab/+pls4all/sparse_pls_da.m for full
% parameter surface:
% res = sparse_pls_da(X, y_labels, n_components, sparsity_lambda)
yhat = predict(res, Xtest);
```
:::
:::{tab-item} MATLAB · pls4all (classdef)
:sync: matlab-classdef
:class-label: lang-matlab
_No idiomatic classdef wrapper — invoke `pls4all.fit("sparse_pls_da", X, y, …)` directly from the unified MEX factory._
:::
::::
**Registry parity references** 📐
:::{card}
:class-card: external-refs
- 📐 **`ref.python_chun_keles_splsda`** (python · python) — `chun_keles_splsda` 1.0 · strict (rmse_rel ≤ 1e-08) — Sparse SIMPLS (Chun & Keles 2010) on dummy-coded class labels, followed by argmax over decision scores. Mirrors pls4all's `n4m_estimators_sparse_pls_da_fit` (default, cfg.sparse_simpls_legacy = 0) bit-for-bit.
- 📐 **`ref.r_spls`** (R · r) — `spls` 2.3.2 · strict (rmse_rel ≤ 1e-08) — R `spls::splsda` (Chun & Keles). Predictions returned as hard class labels by the package; we one-hot encode them to match pls4all's soft-assignment prediction shape, so the parity check is on the classification *boundary* rather than continuous score values.
:::
### Benchmarks
Adaptive wall-clock per cell measured against [`full_matrix.csv`](../benchmarks/overview.md). Only backends that implement this method are listed; libraries without the method are omitted.
**Verdict** · ✓ ref / ≈ ref / ~ shape mark a reference-gate pass at strict / relaxed / qualitative tolerance · ✓ bind = pls4all binding agrees with the C++ baseline · ⇄ cross-check = documented by-design selector/RNG/model, noncanonical API/facade convention, or secondary oracle · ✗ divergent · ⚠ error · — not run. The fastest backend per column is marked 🏆.
**Reference gate**: strict — numeric equivalence (`rmse_rel_tol ≤ 1e-08`).
Rows tagged with **📐** are the canonical parity references for this method (declared in [`parity_timing.registry`](../benchmarks/methodology.md)). C++ and external rows show reference parity; pls4all language bindings show binding parity against the C++ backend. Hover the icon for role and tolerance band.
::::{tab-set}
:class: parity-tabs
:::{tab-item} 1 thread
:sync: threads-1
| Backend | Parity | 200×50 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ ref | 7.43 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ bind | 4.50 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ +7e-01 | 2.45 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ✓ bind | 7.20 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ✓ bind | 8.68 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ✓ bind | 8.43 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ✓ bind | 8.53 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_chun_keles_splsda | source | 3.58 ms |
| R · external |
📐ref.r_spls | ⇄ +1e+00 | 82.9 ms |
:::
:::{tab-item} 3 threads
:sync: threads-3
| Backend | Parity | 200×50 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ ref | 12.7 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ bind | 8.19 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ +7e-01 | 5.55 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ✓ bind | 23.8 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ✓ bind | 31.7 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ✓ bind | 37.4 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ✓ bind | 15.7 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_chun_keles_splsda | source | 14.4 ms |
| R · external |
📐ref.r_spls | ⇄ +1e+00 | 117.9 ms |
:::
:::{tab-item} 10 threads
:sync: threads-10
| Backend | Parity | 200×50 (ms) |
| C++ native · libn4m |
pls4all.cpp.blas+omp | ✓ ref | 7.83 ms |
| Python · pls4all |
pls4all.python | ✓ bind | 7.59 ms |
pls4all.sklearn | ⇄ +7e-01 | 3.94 ms🏆 |
| R · pls4all |
pls4all.R | ✓ bind | 12.2 ms |
pls4all.R.formula | ✓ bind | 47.2 ms |
pls4all.R.mdatools | ✓ bind | 26.4 ms |
pls4all.R.pls | ✓ bind | 32.6 ms |
| Python · external |
📐ref.python_chun_keles_splsda | source | 6.94 ms |
| R · external |
📐ref.r_spls | ⇄ +1e+00 | 91.2 ms |
:::
::::
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_See also_: [benchmark overview](../benchmarks/overview.md) · [methods index](index.md) · [interactive dashboard](../landing/dashboard.md)