The Random Vector

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 33

The Random Vector¶

The Newsletter of the APL Statistics Library

Editor David Eastwood

July 1991

Contents¶

Editorial¶

The official launch of the first three volumes of ASL took place at a British APL Association meeting in London in March 1991. Jake Ansell presented Volume 1 (Basic Statistics), Tony O’Hagan demonstrated the facilities of Volume 2 (Basic Graphics) and Alan Sykes discussed the facilities and recent amendments to Volume 3 (Regression and Generalised Linear Models). This issue of Random Vector contains articles on Volumes 1 and 3.

The article by Jake Ansell and Alan Sykes, in particular, illustrates some of the reasons for starting the ASL project in the first place. In much the same way that collections of APL idioms and toolkit functions are a useful resource for general APL programming, it was felt that the use of APL for Statistical purposes could be encouraged by the provision of a range of tried and tested APL routines. As ASL enters the phase of public availability, I would like to recall some of the guidelines for ASL laid down in 1989 (Vector 6.3 - ‘ASL after Gregynog’ Tony O’Hagan):

• ASL should consist of APL functions primarily to perform statistical calculations, with basic facilities for displaying the results, but without attempting to develop a sophisticated user interface.
• ASL should be independent of commercial interests, and the ASL functions should be made freely available for only a nominal charge.
• ASL should be documented in book form, giving detailed information on the functions including full code.
• The even wider audience of users of statistics packages will need a user-friendly front-end and more eye-catching graphics. There should be a real commercial interest for companies to provide such a package. Commercial exploitations of ASL for this and other markets should be licensed so as to provide income to continue the development of ASL. The financial management should be handled through the BAA.

Now that the documentation for the first release of ASL is nearing completion, we will be able to set the prices for the various elements of ASL. As stated above, and in our other publications, it is intended that educational and personal users of ASL will only have to pay for the duplication and distribution costs of the software and documentation. Commercial users - either corporate or software houses wishing to include ASL routines in their packages - will have to enter into a licensing agreement with the BAA. As soon as we have finalised duplication details and costs we will publicise the details. In the meantime - contact the ASL committee.

Tony O’Hagan announced, at the launch of the first three volumes of ASL, that he will be standing down as Chairman of the ASL Management Committee at the next ASL Conference due to the pressure of his real work. I would like to take this public opportunity to thank Tony for all the work he has put into the ASL project over the last few years. He has contributed to the project at all levels - submitting code, testing other submissions, chairing Management Committee meetings in a relaxed and effective manner and also making a number of presentations on ASL.

As I mentioned in the last Random Vector, the next ASL conference is set to take place at Gregynog between 30 Sept and 2 Oct 1991. The only costs for delegates will be their travel expenses and we are keen to hear from interested parties who would like an invitation to attend. This will be an important staging post in the ASL project as we hope to start considering the next volumes to add to the library. We shall also be seeking nominations for a new Chairman at the conference and also for an influx of new blood onto the various ASL committees - another good reason to attend(?).

As usual, I include the contact details of the current ASL Management Committee who are: