Luke Tierney
School of Statistics
University of Minnesota
Lisp-Stat [4] is an extensible statistical computing environment for data analysis, statistical instruction and research, with an emphasis on providing a framework for exploring the use of dynamic graphical methods. Extensibility is achieved by basing Lisp-Stat on the Lisp language, in particular on a subset of Common Lisp. Lisp-Stat extends standard Lisp arithmetic operations to perform element-wise operations on lists and vectors, and adds a variety of basic statistical and linear algebra functions. A portable window system interface forms the basis of a dynamic graphics system that is designed to work identically in a number of different graphical user interface environments, such as the Macintosh operating system, the X window system, and Microsoft Windows. A prototype-based object-oriented programming system is used to implement the graphics system and to allow it to be customized and adapted. The object-oriented programming system is also used as the basis for statistical model representations, such as linear and nonlinear regression models and generalized linear models [4,5]. Many aspects of the system design were motivated by the S language [1].