R-help archive January - June 2000: [R] I have a dream of creat

Subject: [R] I have a dream of creating a program on statistical analyses.
From: Nathapong Samlamjiag (nathapong_samlamjiag@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 30 Jun 2000 - 21:55:09 EST

To whom it may concern,

My name is Nathapong Samlamjiag. I am a student from Bangkok, Thailand. I am studying Political Science, of which a few courses concern statistics and research methodology. In Thailand, it is believed that SPSS is the most popular program used to conduct statistical analyses. Although I admit that SPSS is an excellent program capable of performing numerous techniques, I personally believe that SPSS is not researcher-friendly. For example, before researchers conduct a regression analysis, they must first check certain assumptions of regression. Some assumptions are very likely to be violated but can usually be corrected by data transformations. Thus, a regression analysis should be carried out in particular steps: First, relevant assumptions are tested; then, data transformations are conducted; and finally the regression analysis is carried. Because it is usually difficult and inconvenient to test and correct assumptions in SPSS, many (Thai) r! esearchers tend to ignore assumptions of a statistical technique. Ignoring assumptions that may be untrue lead to research conclusions that may be unsound. As far as I know, at present there are no statistical programs that are easy to not only conduct statistical techniques but also check (and, if necessary, correct) the techniques' assumptions. With this in mind, I have a dream of creating a statistical program capable of helping political-science researchers conduct statistical analysis that will yield valid conclusions.

Therefore, I have searched the Internet to find information about computer programming. I have found that Visual Studio 6 can be used to easily create a destop application and that R language is a programming language for statistical computation and graphics. Accordingly, I have begun dreaming of using Visual Studio 6 and R language to develop the desired program for statistical analyses.

However, I feel dou! btful about some issues. Thus, I would like to ask you a few questions and request your invaluable suggestions:

1. I tend to develop my statistical stand-alone program by first using Visual Basic to create a user-friendly graphical user interface and Visual C++ to create a database component and then using R language to conduct statistical computation. Thus, I would like to know whether R-language functions can be called by an application developed by the BASIC and C++ languages?

2. I know that R language is available as Free Software under the terms of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License in source code form. I have read GNU General Public License Version 2, June 1991, but I still do not understand it completely. Thus, I would like to ask you whether my statistical program which calls R-language functions must also be a freeware. Must my statistical program be distributed freely? Can I sell my program? More specifically, I am not sure about what I can do and what I cannot do without infringing on the copyrights. Would you please clarify this concern of mine?

Thank you very much for your R language. I will look forward to your suggestions.

Sincerely yours,
Nathapong Samlamjiag