X-Git-Url: https://pintos-os.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=b88217f021aba1c8f0645ebc6a65600d2c724f10;hb=fb67d7201c231228f4a528f0c10d1cd17cddd6c5;hp=ed5412a879ba0433eb5ac0b9ea8731edf45d2cc5;hpb=4de79b34b329d1da6cdeb145993d3efd911e2967;p=pspp-builds.git diff --git a/README b/README index ed5412a8..b88217f0 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,11 +1,42 @@ PSPP is a program for statistical analysis of sampled data. It interprets commands in the SPSS language and produces tabular output -in ASCII or PostScript format. +in ASCII, PostScript, or HTML format. PSPP development is ongoing. It already supports a large subset of SPSS's transformation language. Its statistical procedure support is currently limited, but growing. +Instructions for installation are in INSTALL. Before you install +PSPP, you will need to install certain prerequisites: + + * An ANSI C compiler and tool chain. + + * GNU make. Other make programs will not work. + + * The GNU Scientific Library (libgsl), version 1.6 or later, + including libgslcblas included with GSL. + + * Perl, version 5.005_03 or later. (Perl is required during build + but not after installation.) + + * pkg-config (only if you need to regenerate configure after + modifying configure.ac). + + * Optional: libncurses. Without it, PSPP will assume it is + running in an 80x25 terminal. + + * Optional: libreadline and libhistory. Without them, interactive + command editing and history features will be disabled. + + * Optional: libplot (from GNU plotutils). Without it, + graphing features will not work. If you do not have it + installed, you must run `configure' with --without-libplot. + + * Optional: GTK+ version 2.6.0 or later, plus libglade 2.0 or + later. Without them, the GUI will not be built. If you do not + have these installed, you must run `configure' with + --without-gui. + For information on differences from previous versions, please see file NEWS. Full documentation on PSPP's language can be found in the doc/ directory. @@ -15,7 +46,63 @@ ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/pspp/. Older versions may be obtained from ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/pspp/. Development sources are available from CVS at http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/pspp -Questions and comments regarding PSPP can be sent to pspp-dev@gnu.org. -PSPP bug reports may be sent to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org or filed in the -bug-tracking system at http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=pspp -according to your preference. +Questions and comments about using PSPP may be sent to pspp-users@gnu.org. +Bug reports may be filed at http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=pspp +or emailed to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org. (We prefer the web-based system +because it makes it more difficult for us to lose track of bugs.) + +The long term goals for PSPP are ambitious. We wish to provide the +following support to users: + + * All of the SPSS transformation language. PSPP already + supports a large subset of it. + + * All the statistical procedures that someone is willing to + implement, whether they exist in SPSS or not. Currently, + statistical support is limited, but growing. + + * Compatibility with SPSS syntax, including compatibility with + known bugs and warts, where it makes sense. We also provide + an "enhanced" mode in certain cases where PSPP can output + better results that may surprise SPSS users. + + * Friendly textual and graphical interfaces. PSPP does not do + a good job of this yet. + + * Attractive output, including graphs, in a variety of human- + and machine-readable formats. PSPP currently produces + output in ASCII, PostScript, and HTML formats. We will + enhance PSPP's output formatting in the future. + + * Good documentation. Currently the PSPP manual describes its + language completely, but we would like to add information on + how to select statistical procedures and interpret their + results. + + * Efficient support for very large data sets. For procedures + where it is practical, we wish to efficiently support data + sets many times larger than physical memory. The framework + for this feature is already in place, but it has not been + tuned or extensively tested. + +Over the long term, we also wish to provide support to developers who +wish to extend PSPP with new statistical procedures, by supplying the +following: + + * Easy-to-use support for parsing language syntax. Currently, + parsing is done by writing "recursive descent" code by hand, + with some support for automated parsing of the most common + constructs. We wish to improve the situation by supplying a + more complete and flexible parser generator. + + * Easy-to-use support for producing attractive output. + Currently, output is done by writing code to explicitly fill + in table cells with data. We should be able to supply a + more convenient interface that also allows for providing + machine-readable output. + + * Eventually, a plug-in interface for procedures. Over the + short term, the interface between the PSPP core and + statistical procedures is evolving quickly enough that a + plug-in model does not make sense. Over the long term, it + may make sense to introduce plug-ins.