# How to know which ContinuedFractions package to use?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-know-which-continuedfractions-package-to-use/107381>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question, packages\
**Created:** [December 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-know-which-continuedfractions-package-to-use/107381 "2023-12-10T18:01:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chandra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chandra/32/207807_2.png) [@chandra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chandra)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-know-which-continuedfractions-package-to-use/107381/1 "2023-12-10T18:01:42Z")

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I am interested in the `ContinuedFractions` package in Julia.

I found two repositories:  
[ContinuedFractions.jl-One](https://github.com/johnmyleswhite/ContinuedFractions.jl)  
and  
[ContinuedFractions.jl-Two](https://github.com/jwscook/ContinuedFractions.jl)

How do I find out which to use?

If necessary, how do I uninstall the wrong one and install the right one?

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**Author:** ![mike.ingold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mike.ingold/32/203749_2.png) [@mike.ingold](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mike.ingold)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-know-which-continuedfractions-package-to-use/107381/2 "2023-12-10T18:32:04Z")

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Julia’s General registry (the one accessible via the built-in `Pkg` environment) points to [GitHub - jwscook/ContinuedFractions.jl: Implementation of Continued Fractions](https://github.com/jwscook/ContinuedFractions.jl). So, if you `] add ContinuedFractions` and `using ContinuedFractions`, this is the package you’ll be using.

It doesn’t look like the other one ([GitHub - johnmyleswhite/ContinuedFractions.jl: Types and functions for working with continued fractions in Julia](https://github.com/johnmyleswhite/ContinuedFractions.jl)) is registered, so you would need to `] add https://github.com/johnmyleswhite/ContinuedFractions.jl` to use it.

In terms of which is the “right/wrong” one, that’s probably up to you. I don’t use them, but from a quick perusal: neither seems to be actively maintained, documentation is sparse for one and non-existent for the other, and they both consist of only a single very short file of actual source code. I don’t know that I’d be excited to use either, but the registered one looks more like to actually load without drama in the first place.

A [quick search using JuliaHub’s package index](https://juliahub.com/ui/Search?q=continued%20fraction&type=packages) turned up another option: [RealContinuedFractions](https://juliahub.com/ui/Packages/General/RealContinuedFractions).

More info on how to use Julia’s `Pkg` environment for managing installed packages is available in the official docs here: [Pkg · The Julia Language](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/stdlib/Pkg/).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chandra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chandra/32/207807_2.png) [@chandra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chandra)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 8:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-know-which-continuedfractions-package-to-use/107381/3 "2023-12-11T08:31:44Z")

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Thank you for your reply.

I found the [RealContinuedFractions](https://juliahub.com/ui/Packages/General/RealContinuedFractions) to be most germane to my purposes.

Is there any “periodic culling” so that unmaintained packages are archived and do not insert themselves into Google or other searches? If not, might I suggest this as something worthy of consideration.

Cheers!
