How useful is Perl for classical statistics?

[robert]

How useful is Perl for standard statistics, on data coming out of a
database,
say regression, logistic, chisquare, etc. etc.

Robert

http://code.google.com/p/vilno

 

[Ken Butler]

How useful is Perl for standard statistics, on data coming out of a
database,
say regression, logistic, chisquare, etc. etc.

I wouldn't use Perl directly for any of these, preferring something
well-tested like R. (There is Statistics::R on CPAN that provides an
interface to R from Perl, though I haven't used it myself.)

CPAN has a long list of Statistics:: modules, including
Statistics::Chisquare and Statistics::MVA::MultipleRegression.

Cheers,
Ken.

 

[Michael Vilain]

How useful is Perl for standard statistics, on data coming out of a
database,
say regression, logistic, chisquare, etc. etc.

Robert

http://code.google.com/p/vilno

Define "useful". If you found that term in a functional spec, why
doesn't it make the programmer in you go "WTF?".

Like any other programming language, perl, php, C++, FORTRAN, etc is as
useful as the programmer's ability to code in it. If you don't know
Perl, it won't be very useful to you. If you do, there's the CPAN
library you can peruse for modules others have written.

I found packages on descriptive statistics, regression, and chisquare.

http://search.cpan.org/search?query=Statistics&mode=module

 

[Xho Jingleheimerschmidt]

What kind of regression and logistic? Perl's a bit slow for doing heavy
duty convergence problems.

chisquare, etc. etc.

I probably wouldn't use Perl for doing that, unless I was already using
Perl on that project anyway (which for me I usually am.)

Some databases have statistics engines built in. And there is also the
R language.

You certainly can use Perl for statistics, but unless it is already your
favorite language, I don't see why you would choose it over other languages.

Define "useful". If you found that term in a functional spec, why
doesn't it make the programmer in you go "WTF?".

Like any other programming language, perl, php, C++, FORTRAN, etc is as
useful as the programmer's ability to code in it. If you don't know
Perl, it won't be very useful to you. If you do, there's the CPAN
library you can peruse for modules others have written.

I found packages on descriptive statistics, regression, and chisquare.

http://search.cpan.org/search?query=Statistics&mode=module

Congratulations, you can search CPAN. So can I. I when I do, I find a
whole lot of hits, most of which are either false positives, or low
quality crap, or weird vanity projects that are not of general utility.

Saying you can find search results on CPAN, without providing
testimonials about the quality or usibility of those modules, is beyond
useless.

There is a lot of valuable stuff on CPAN. But the best way to find is
by referrals from knowledgeable people. Not just groping around in the
dark.

Xho