Showing papers by "R. W. Payne published in 1986"
01 Jan 1986
TL;DR: Methods and criteria for designing a flexible package that avoids deficiencies in Genstat are described, with illustrations from the involvement with Genstat and the design of the new version called Genstat 5.
Abstract: Statistical packages that constrain their users to choosing from a fixed set of analyses restrict the types of investigation that scientists may undertake, or lead to approximate or inappropriate analyses. We describe methods and criteria for designing a flexible package that avoids such deficiencies, with illustrations from our involvement with Genstat, in particular from the design of the new version called Genstat 5. Use of comprehensive algorithms and the ability to include user-supplied source code are important, but the crucial feature is that the commands of the package should themselves constitute a programming language for defining statistical, and other, computations.
1 citations