Color values in R are often represented as strings of hexadecimal
colors or named colors. This package offers fast conversion of
these color representations to either an array of red/green/blue/alpha values
or to the packed integer format used in native raster objects. Functions
for conversion are also exported at the 'C' level for use in other packages.
This fast conversion
of colors is implemented using an order-preserving minimal perfect hash
derived from Majewski et al (1996) "A Family of Perfect Hashing Methods"