Re: Need help/advice with NIST dataplot

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

On 20101217_233118, Scott Howard wrote:
>  On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 8:05 PM, Aaron M. Ucko <amu@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> > Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net> writes:
> >
> >> First, maybe I don't need to compile from source --- Is there a
> >> package for this in Debian? What is the package name?
> >
> > I see no sign of any existing package either, but it was a good thought
> > to check first.
> 
> Is there a desire/userbase for this package to be included in debian?
> I have not used it, but can help work on it if this is something
> interesting to users. (I've never made a fortran library package
> before, could be interesting...)
> 
> This is their license statement: "Open source software, as exemplified
> by the GNU foundation, is becoming incresingly popular. Although
> Dataplot does not explicitly utilize the GNU license, Dataplot has
> always made the source code available (Dataplot is trade marked but
> not copyrighted). Note that we place no restrictions on how you use
> the source code. You are free to modify it for your own purposes and
> are free to re-distribute it with your own applications. We
> appreciate, but do not require, acknowledgement."
> 
> And from [1]:
> "Beyond the packages many of us have heard of, this week James
> J. Filliben of the Statistical Engineering Division of the U.S. National
> Institute of Standards (NIST) presented software continually developed since
> they first introduced it in 1978 (yes, that's 20 years) [edit: make
> that 30].  That software is
> "DATAPLOT".
> 
> Three people work on dataplot full time at NIST.  They have 1 million lines of
> code in the program, 17 MB of binaries, and 2000 pages of documentation.  They
> have 70 statistical distributions, probably more than the statistical bastions
> SAS, SPSS and BMDP.  They contain most every experimental design in Box and
> Jenkins.  Their software does Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), time series
> analysis, process control, reliability.  Their front end is Tcl/Tk and they
> have extensive graphics.  This program is very popular at NIST."
> 
> 
> Anyone have an opinion or experience with this?
> 
> Cheers,
> Scott
> 
> [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1997/12/msg01129.html

Scott,
Thanks for this very enlightening link into the past. I discovered this

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/index.htm

while doing a Google search for something else, and it looked to me to
be an interesting alternative view of how statistics relates to the
hard sciences. It mentions DATAPLOT (I remember that ancient era when
all computer stuff was all caps.)

I have never run dataplot, nor ever met someone who has used dataplot.
So, it is hard for me to whole-heartedly endorse building a Debian
package. But --- this might really be a REALLY GOOD THING. The
handbook link, listed above, is to an actively maintained html
document.  I experienced some difficulty reading it because at several
points, I used Google to look up parts I had just recently read, and
Google presented pages from an earlier version that had been squirrled
away somewhere in the cloud.

After reading the stuff you found in debian-user/1997 I am highly
motivated to get dataplot compiled and running here. And pretty
confident that I will find it so useful that I will want to have
access to a properly maintained Debian package. 

James J Fillinben, the author of dataplot, is referenced as actively
engaged in statistical work at NIST in 1999, and may still be
available for advice and consulting, but I haven't found explicit
statement of his current whereabouts. He might be retired and relish
the opportunity to help.

Cheers.
-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@mesanetworks.net