Re: Status of XLisp-Stat

Hola!

Are there some news on the book proposal:

Lisp-Stat: Advanced Case
      Studies and Applications.

with the web page:

http://www.geocities.com/simon_blomberg/xlsbook.html

Kjetil Halvorsen

Bob Stine wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I've followed the recent discussion on the state of XLS, and thought I
> would add some comments.
> 
> I think that the most serious needs are those that are not easy to
> address, at least by most of us -- outside of Luke Tierney.  I am
> thinking of things 'under the hood' that affect not just those of us
> that program in Lisp, but those who use a package like Vista or Arc
> that sit on top of Lisp.  My wish list for XLS includes
> 
>         (1) Presentation graphics (eg, nicer printing)
> 
>         (2) Frame based graphics system (ie, so that you can logically
>                 divide the window into frames at the system level,
>                 rather than address the whole window)
> 
>         (3) Updated control widgets (eg, things in a dialog view)
> 
>         (4) Native 'array view' for browsing arrays (eg spreadsheet)
> 
> I think that all of these would have some beneficial impact for most
> of the users of XLS, from student users to those who use XLS as a
> research tool.
> 
> The hard part about these items is that in order for them to work
> well, they require modifications down in the system rather than at the
> level of the interpreter.  They are also in my opinion not much fun to
> do.  Having played down in the XLS graphics system (adding perspective
> to 3D views for a project on perception), I can see why Luke has not
> done these. But maybe someone else would like to do some of these --
> would Luke open up the source tree and use their modifications? (I
> guess that I am thinking of something closer to the open-source
> 'bazaar' model of developement.)
> 
> Finally, someone needs to write the 'Venables and Ripley' book for
> XLS, bringing users up to date with what is available and focussing on
> the applications rather than the Lisp.
> 
> I have not seen a comment from Luke and am curious about his thoughts
> for the direction of XLS.
> 
> Bob
> 
> =============================================================================
> Bob Stine                                             [email protected]
> 3014 Steinberg Hall - Dietrich Hall
> Department of Statistics                                         215 898 3114
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> Philadelphia PA 19104-6302             http://www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~bob