Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 alpha 4/15/85; site natmlab.OZ Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!munnari!natmlab!ronb From: ronb@natmlab.OZ (Ron Baxter) Newsgroups: net.math.stat Subject: Re: Some topics I wouldn't mind discussing Message-ID: <299@natmlab.OZ> Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 09:11:11 EDT Article-I.D.: natmlab.299 Posted: Thu Sep 26 09:11:11 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 30-Sep-85 02:07:20 EDT References: <277@nrcvax.UUCP> Reply-To: ronb@natmlab.UUCP (Ron Baxter) Organization: CSIRO Div Maths and Stats & Div App Phys, Sydney, Australia Lines: 74 In article <277@nrcvax.UUCP> jt@nrcvax.UUCP (Jerry Toporek) writes: > >Are you generally happy with the available statistical software in your >computing environment? Are UNIX people using S? Is it really what you >want, and, if so, for what types of applications? What else is being used >in the UNIX world? > On our system (4.2 BSD on a Vax 750) the main statistical packages available are: o GLIM - an old favourite with good notation and abilities for fitting models, but somewhat messy output and a quirky syntax (e.g. sometimes you need to have a $ at the end of a line to provoke action, and sometimes you don't.) Only needs a low once-off fee. o MINITAB - users like it because it is easy to use. It has an annual fee (so is more expensive than GLIM) and is distributed as a binary (so tough if you don't like some of the decisions that have been made for you). o GENSTAT - for getting ANOVAS for data from complex designed experiments - it is better than the rest. It also has an annual fee (similar price to Minitab). It is not seen as "easy to use", but it is quite powerful. I have done a UNIX conversion of this package and it is available from NAG. o S - need I say more in this group. It has the best graphics facilities that we have for data analysts. It is this that often gets users started on S, but then they discover it can do more. The fact that it really is a practical proposition to add your own algorithms in Fortran puts it way ahead of the others which have limits that are more solidly defined. These are the main ones, we do have other more specialized packages, and libraries such as IMSL. >Are your data management tools adequate? Do they provide the kind of >operating environment you want? Do data analysts still basically prepare >commands and submit them to a background process, or do they prefer some kind >of interactive operation? > S and MINITAB are largely used interactively. GENSTAT can be but usually isn't (people grew up using this in batch mode on CDC machines so ...). GLIM is somewhere between being used interactively some of the time. >Are people starting to use smaller machines for local computing and large >machines for data storage? Are there tools available to support distributed >computing and data management? Do you want them? > I can see lots of scope for mmachines like the Microvax but we haven't moved far down this path yet. >...................................... The switch came, in part, from a >belief that statistical software of the future will be built on top of tools >providing access to resources within a network environment. ............ I agree that different facilities will be brought together by networks. I also like the idea of this personal workstation being my window onto all this. However, at this stage I don't see a powerful enough workstation at a low enough price to start pushing the low-cost VDUs off everyones desks. -- Ron Baxter, ACSNET: ronb@natmlab CSIRO Div Maths & Stats, ARPA: munnari!natmlab.oz!ronb@SEISMO.ARPA National Measurement Lab., UUCP: ...!seismo!munnari!natmlab.oz!ronb PO Box 218, Lindfield, NSW, Australia, 2070. PHONE: +61 2 467 6059