DAM(ID:6788/dam001)Stats and reporting packagefor Data-processing And Multiple regression International Monetary Fund, Research Dept., Special Studies Division English language statistical and reportage interpreter developed by the world bank (who were fond of dams, hence acronym) written in Fortran IV Related languages
References: The program, hereafter referred to as DAM (Data Processing and Multiple Regression) facilitates the preparation of input data to be used in multiple regression analysis. It enables users without specific programming knolege to write sequences of desired computations essnetially in the form in which they would give instructions to a statistical assistant In the last few years the speed of computers has increased so much that computer time is responsible for only a small fraction of the of propramming personnel, particularly those who have some background in physics, chemistry or engineering, which has led many subject-matter specialists to learn programming. This is of course wasteful, in the sense that a number of do-it-yourself activities are wasteful, and also involves an additional loss because of the time taken from the pursuit of the subject matter in which the programmer is a specialist. Although inefficient, it is justified because of the relatively low cost and high speed of modern machines and because of the inaccessibility of professional programmers. The system is unsatisfactory-the scien tist involved becomes more programmer than physicist or chemist and either has to train each new man to code or end up doing his problems himself. This provides the motivation for a general-purpose code to himself. This provides the motivation for a general-purpose code to facilitate communication with the machine, a code which requires as little specialized computer knowledge as possible. For the statistician, general-purpose codes for regression, time series, etc., would probably suffice. There may be other equally good collections of codes, but the programs prepared by the UCLA Biomedical Data Processing Group (BMD) come as near to filling the needs of the statistician as we can reasonably hope to get. Yet in many applications the experimenter wants tables made from the results of curve fitting, plots of auxiliary functions, or auxiliary constants such as air density, virtual temperature, etc. In a number of cases the statistical analysis is a minor part of the calculation and printout. It is a misuse of the statistician's abilities for him to expend his energies on preparing such nonstatistical programs. This desire for a general-purpose coding system in which the machine is programmed by the writing of English sentences has brought forth a number of systems: AARDVARK (Iowa State), BOUMAC (National Bureau of Standards Boulder Laboratories), COGO (MIT), DAM (International Monetary Fund), etc. The following quotations from four of these programs show the strong and consistent motivation toward the utilization of a language oriented toward the subject-matter specialist rather than the machine: COGO - a computer programming systen1 for civil engineering problems ...has the following characteristics: The instructions or commands to the computer, which the engineer uses to express the solution of a problem, are at approximately the same technical language level as instructions which one engineer would use in describing his solution to another engineer. (Miller, 1961, p. 1) The above presentation may be regarded as a Problem Oriented Control Language oriented toward Multivariate Analysis. It is felt that this language is close to the language a statistician would use to express his problem to other statisticians so that the statistician wishing to perform certain multivariate analyses has a minimum of computing rules to learn before he can present his problem. (Cooper, 1963, p. 27) The program, hereafter referred to as DAM (Data processing And Multiple regression), facilitates the preparation of input data to be used in multiple regression analysis. It enables users without specific programming knowlregression analysis. It enables users without specific programming knowledge to write sequences of desired computations essentially in the form and (Boissonneault, 1962, p. I) A formal approach to the routine analysis of kinetic data in terms of linear compartmental systems is presented. The methods of analysis are general in that they include much of the theory in common use, such as direct solution of differential equations, integral equations, transfer functions, fitting of data to sums of exponentials, matrix solutions, etc. The key to the formalism presented lies in the fact that a basic operational unit-called "compartment" - has been defined, in terms of which physical and mathematical models as well as input and output functions can be expressed. Additional features for calculating linear combinations of functions and for setting linear dependence relations between parameters add to the versatility of this method. The actual computations for the values of model parameters to yield a least squares fit of the data are performed on a digital computer. A general computer program was developed that permits the routine fitting of data and the evolution of models. (Berman, Weiss and Shahn,1962,p.289) As useful as these systems are in their specialized fields, a need for a system directed toward the wide variety of mathematical a a need for a system directed toward the wide variety of mathematical and numerical calculations arising in the physical sciences and neering. OMNITAB (Hilsenrath, 1963) was designed to meet this need. in Proceedings of the IBM Scientific Computing Symposium on Statistics 1963 at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, on October 21, 22 and 23,1963. view details in Proceedings of the IBM Scientific Computing Symposium on Statistics 1963 at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, on October 21, 22 and 23,1963. view details in Proceedings of the IBM Scientific Computing Symposium on Statistics 1963 at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, on October 21, 22 and 23,1963. view details in [ACM] ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 4(2) June 1972 view details |