Re: next version of PSPP

[Karel Novotny]

On Fri, 2009-11-13 at 07:35 +0000, William Simpson wrote:
> My two cents
> 
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 10:56 PM, Gene Shackman <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> > Sounds like a lot of great work being done on PSPP.  I also add my thanks 
> > to those developing the package.
> >
> > A couple of basic things were these that John mentioned
> > * An improved output system.
> > * Cut/Paste/Export to/from OpenOffice.org and Koffice.
> These are low priorities for me. Basic statistical functionality is at
> the top of my list.

It is a question of personal priority of course, but since we got into
prioritizing the wishlist (have we?), let me disagree...

IMO "Cut/Paste/Export to/from OpenOffice.org and Koffice" is a very high
priority if you expect people with basic knowledge and needs to use
pspp. Copying output from a text file into a spreadsheet in a way that
the numbers get into right cells and without additional characters (or
spaces) that would prevent the software from recognizing them as numbers
already takes some programming, even though a basic one. And it is time
consuming and this time is not really productively spent. When I am
promoting pspp among new potential users the need for these operations
really weakens all my other arguments.

Another high obstacle for pspp being picked up widely is currently
lacking UTF-8 support. Pspp has many potential users in regions where
spss (and similar) is not an option not only for ideology reasons, but
primarily because of economy. And people in these regions are often
using non-ascii character sets. I work with ICT promotion in such
regions and I am impressed with the speed of OS proliferation,
particularly since Ubuntu and truly usable and stable versions of
OpenOffice are around. But that's always only when UTF-8 is supported :)

That's why it is a great news that you consider this support for the
next release.

Thanks for all the work on the software. It is great and unique.

karel 

> 
> >
> > and the Anova William mentioned.  Also the regression currently available 
> > seems to be forced choice, that is, all factors get put into the equation.  
> > It would be great if there were some selection procedure like forward or 
> > backward regression.
> 
> This is an advanced procedure that doesn't get treated until grad
> school. Therefore it is very low on my list of priorities.
> 
> In my opinion, PSPP at this point should be aiming at people with very
> basic knowledge and needs. It would be pointless trying to compete
> with packages like R (which is what statisticians [and I] use). As
> PSPP builds up from the bottom, it can add more and more capabilities.
> 
> 
> > Don't forget that you're always welcome to download the latest development
> > version - just bear in mind it hasn't been thoroughly tested.  If you just 
> > want
> > to know the major changes between the released version and the development 
> > version,
> > you can take a look at the NEWS file.  See: 
> > http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/pspp.git/tree/NEWS
> I have no experience building from sources under win. I am familiar
> and very capable with linux. But my use for PSPP is under win, for
> instruction of people with very basic needs.
> 
> 
> Again, my two cents
> > Additional features which *may* be in the next release include:
> >
> > * Full UTF8 support.
> not even on my list, let alone near the bottom
> 
> > * An improved output system.
> very low on my list
> 
> > * Cut/Paste/Export to/from OpenOffice.org and Koffice.
> very low
> 
> > * The GRAPH command.
> better plots would be nice
> 
> > * The FACTOR command.
> I guess this means factor analysis. If so, again this is an advanced
> technique taught in grad school. I think you should start from ground
> up.
> 
> > * The GLM command.
> If you mean general linear model, bravo! It is by far the most
> general, powerful, and widely used statistical approach. A huge amount
> of stuff falls under its umbrella. It is fundamental and therefore is
> taught from early stages all the way through grad school -- linear
> regression and anova.
> 
> If you mean generalised linear models, again this is an advanced
> technique. If for example you have Bernoulli trials and want a
> logistic link, this could be done pretty decently using linear models.
> In fact this was done before fairly recently (glm did not exist before
> the 1980s).
> 
> Thanks again for PSPP!!
> 
> Bill
> 
> 
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