USE OF IVERSON'S LANGUAGE APL FOR STATISTICAL COMPUTING.
Abstract
Problems of communication between statistician and computer are reviewed. Needs are diverse. For the professional mathematically-oriented statistician Iverson's language APL is very suitable, more so than special statistical computing systems. A partial description of APL is given, and illustrated by some typical statistical calculations. An experimental implementation of the language in conversational mode through typewriter terminals is described. The system may be used as a desk calculator, and programs and data may be stored. The purpose of the paper is not to duplicate the manual, but to convey the flavor and suggest the suitability of APL for expressing statistical calculations, without presenting too much unfamiliar notation. Two attractive features of the language are its capacity to represent array operations concisely and its high degree of consistency and generality. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0672557
Entities
People
- F. J. Anscombe
Organizations
- Yale University