perlman@wanginst.UUCP (Gary Perlman) (02/07/86)
What follows is an announcement of a new version (5.2) of my UNIX|STAT
package of data manipulation and analysis programs for UNIX and MSDOS.
The UNIX version is finished, and the MSDOS version will be ready
as soon as we get around to compiling them, certainly by March 1, 1986.
UNIX|STAT continues to be distributed on tape for $20 and floppies
for $15, and you can make free copies for non-profit use. If you do
data analysis on UNIX or MSDOS, its worth reading on.
For People Who Are Familiar With UNIX|STAT:
So what's new from the old version? To me the main changes are:
a. contab (new program) for contingency tables and chi-square
b. probdist (new and replacement program) for random number
generation, and probability to/from statistic conversion for
uniform, normal, chi-square, t, and F distributions.
c. on-line help built into most programs:
-L print program limits
-O print program options
-V print program version number
d. ranksort (new program) to rank order data within columns
e. on-line manual entries will be available on MSDOS, so:
g. I am no longer distributing free printed documentation.
f. there is brand new documentation (a big handbook) for 5.2
There are several new features added to old programs, to take up
slack for programs I am no longer distributing (io, vincent, trans, dataplot).
I hope to rid myself of this compulsion to write new UNIX|STAT programs,
so I intend to avoid adding to the package for at least six months.
This should be the best version around for a while.
The long description follows, and it includes ordering information.
Due to the number of calls I have received, and had to return,
I will no longer be returning calls about the package. If you must
call, leave your name and address and I'll send you a paper copy of
exactly what follows.
And don't forget, send me your addresses in the form they will
appear on a mailing label, or I will let your request gather dust
for weeks rather than try to decipher letter-head. Foreign
requesters: please tell me what country you are writing from;
I am still wondering where Flatzen-Hozen is.
UNIX|STAT 5.2
DATA MANIPULATION & ANALYSIS PROGRAMS
FOR UNIX and MSDOS
UNIX|STAT is a set of over 20 data manipulation and analysis programs
developed at the University of California, San Diego and at the Wang
Institute of Graduate Studies by Gary Perlman. The programs are designed
with the UNIX philosophy that individual programs should be designed as
tools that do one task well and produce output suitable for input via pipes
to other programs. Interactive use is supported in the command line
interpreter which also provides a programming language for complex
analyses. Typical usage involves a pipeline of transformations of data
followed by input to an analysis program, summarized schematically by:
INPUT DATA | TRANSFORM | ANALYSIS | OUTPUT RESULTS
Functionality often built into statistical packages (e.g., graphics and
sorting) is not re-invented in UNIX|STAT which delegates such
responsibility to standard tools.
DATA MANIPULATION PROGRAMS:
abut join data files
colex column extraction
dm column oriented data manipulator
maketrix create matrix type file from free-form file
perm randomly permute lines in a file
probdist probability distribution functions
ranksort rank order columns
repeat repeat a pattern or file
reverse reverse lines, columns, and characters
series print a series of numbers
transpose transpose matrix type file
validata verify data file consistency
DATA ANALYSIS PROGRAMS:
anova multi-factor analysis of variance
calc interactive algebraic modeling calculator
contab contingency tables and chi-square
desc descriptions histograms, frequency tables
dprime signal detection d' and beta calculations
oneway one-way anova and t-test and error-bar plots
pair paired data statistics, regression, plots
regress multivariate linear regression
stats report summary statistics
ts time series analysis and plots
FEATURES:
easy to use (negligible training period)
simple input formats (free format field oriented)
used in pipelines with other UNIX or MSDOS utilities (sort, print)
flexible data manipulation
data validation (range and type checking)
full documentation (manual entries, tutorials)
extensible (many modular C functions)
efficient (less than a few seconds per analysis)
small enough for micros
runs on any UNIX System (V6, V7, 2.8BSD, 4BSD, System V, etc.)
runs on MSDOS 2.0 and 3.0 with 96K (IBM PC, Wang PC, AT&T PC, etc.)
liberal copyright (can't be distributed for gain)
in use at more than 400 UNIX sites for six years
CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.0 (March 1985):
reworked to increase portability, reliability, usability
most commands now use a standard option parser (getopt)
all calculations now done in double precision
improved error messages
regress now does a partial correlation analysis
colex and trans added as alternative to dm
better approximations to F-ratios
efficiency of I/O improved
most programs ported to MSDOS
improved random number seeding on UNIX
standard exit status (0) on successful runs
version control added
CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.1 (November 1985):
several minor bugs removed
the full package was ported to MSDOS
CHANGES FOR RELEASE 5.2 (January 1986):
5 probability distributions with random number generation
crosstabs and chi-square program
on-line help in most programs
plotting options added to paired data program
anova program more robust
error bar plots, unweighted means solution in oneway program
better support for residual plotting in regress
UNIX|STAT Handbook and new manual entries
on-line manuals on MSDOS
AVAILABILITY AND ORDERING INFORMATION:
The programs are distributed under a liberal copyright. The software
(program code, executable code, and on-line documentation) can be
distributed freely, provided there is no material gain. All rights are
reserved on the printed documentation.
All prices include delivery and should be prepaid US funds to G. Perlman.
UNIX Version of UNIX|STAT:
Price: $20
Contents: Program (C language) & Manual (troff) Source Files
Format: 600 foot half inch 9 track mag tape, 1600 bpi tar format
MSDOS Version of UNIX|STAT:
Price: $15
Contents: Preformatted Manuals and Executables
Format: 2S/2D MSDOS 5.25 inch floppy diskettes
Handbook:
Price: $10
Contents: Examples, Conventions, Reference Materials, CALC & DM Manuals
Format: Printed Manual (~70 pages)
Printed Manual Entries:
Price: $5
Contents: Typeset Versions of Manual Entries, Reference Sheets
Format: Printed Manual (~30 pages)
CONTACT:
Gary Perlman
Wang Institute of Graduate Studies
Tyng Road
Tyngsboro, MA 01879 USA
(617) 649-9731
UUCP: decvax!wanginst!perlman CSNET: perlman@wanginst
NOTES:
UNIX|STAT is unsupported, though known bugs have been removed.
UNIX|STAT may not be distributed for profit.
UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
UNIX|STAT is NOT a product of any company or organization.
--
Gary Perlman Wang Institute Tyngsboro, MA 01879 (617) 649-9731
UUCP: decvax!wanginst!perlman CSNET: perlman@wanginst