Rattle Re-Introduced

Latest version of Rattle just went online-

Here is the change log- Dr Graham Williams is also coming out with a book on using Rattle- the R GUI devoted to data mining.

Source-http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/rattle/index.html

rattle (2.5.42) unstable; urgency=low

  * Update rattle.info() to recursively identify all dependencies,
 report
    their version number and any updates available from CRAN and generate
    command to update packages that have updates available. See
    ?rattle.info for the options.

  * Fix bug causing R Dataset option of the Evaluate window to always
    revert to the first named dataset.

  * Fix bug in transforms where weights were not being handled in
    refreshing of the Data tab.

  * Fix a bug in box plots when trying to label outliers when there aren't
    any.

 -- Graham Williams <Graham.Williams@togaware.com>  Sun, 
19 Sep 2010 05:01:51 +1000

rattle (2.5.41) unstable; urgency=low

  * Use GtkBuilder for Export dialog.

  * Test use of glade vs GtkBuilder on multiple platforms.

  * Rename rattle.info to rattle.version.

  * Add weight column to data tab.

  * Support weights for nnet, multinom, survival.

  * Add weights information to PMML as a PMML Extension.

  * Ensure GtkFrame is available as a data type whilst waiting for 
updated
    RGtk2.

  * Bug fix to packageIsAvailable not reruning any result.

  * Replace destroy with withdraw for plot window as the former has
    started crashing R.

  * Improve Log formatting for various model build commands.

  * Be sure to include the car package for Anova for multinom models.

  * Release pmml 1.2.24: Bug fix glm binomial regression - note as
    classification model.

 -- Graham Williams <Graham.Williams@togaware.com>  Wed, 15 Sep 2010 
14:56:09 +1000
And a video I did of exploring various Rattle options using Camtasia,
 a very useful software for screen capture and video tutorials
from http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasiatrial.asp
Updated- my video skils being quite bad- I replaced it with another video. 
However Camtasia is the best screen capture video tool
Also , an update Analyticdroid is on hold for now. see- for more details http://rattle.togaware.com/

GNU PSPP- The Open Source SPSS

If you are SPSS user (for statistics/ not data mining) you can also try 0ut GNU PSPP- which is the open source equivalent and quite eerily impressive in performance. It is available at http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/ or http://pspp.awardspace.com/ and you can also read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSPP

PSPP is a program for statistical analysis of sampled data. It is a Free replacement for the proprietary program SPSS, and appears very similar to it with a few exceptions.

[ Image of Variable Sheet ]The most important of these exceptions are, that there are no “time bombs”; your copy of PSPP will not “expire” or deliberately stop working in the future. Neither are there any artificial limits on the number of cases or variables which you can use. There are no additional packages to purchase in order to get “advanced” functions; all functionality that PSPP currently supports is in the core package.

PSPP can perform descriptive statistics, T-tests, linear regression and non-parametric tests. Its backend is designed to perform its analyses as fast as possible, regardless of the size of the input data. You can use PSPP with its graphical interface or the more traditional syntax commands.

A brief list of some of the features of PSPP follows:

  • Supports over 1 billion cases.
  • Supports over 1 billion variables.
  • Syntax and data files are compatible with SPSS.
  • Choice of terminal or graphical user interface.
  • Choice of text, postscript or html output formats.
  • Inter-operates with GnumericOpenOffice.Org and other free software.
  • Easy data import from spreadsheets, text files and database sources.
  • Fast statistical procedures, even on very large data sets.
  • No license fees.
  • No expiration period.
  • No unethical “end user license agreements”.
  • Fully indexed user manual.
  • Free Software; licensed under GPLv3 or later.
  • Cross platform; Runs on many different computers and many different operating systems.

PSPP is particularly aimed at statisticians, social scientists and students requiring fast convenient analysis of sampled data.

and

Features

This software provides a basic set of capabilities: frequencies, cross-tabs comparison of means (T-tests and one-way ANOVA); linear regression, reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha, not failure or Weibull), and re-ordering data, non-parametric tests, factor analysis and more.

At the user’s choice, statistical output and graphics are done in asciipdfpostscript or html formats. A limited range of statistical graphs can be produced, such as histogramspie-charts and np-charts.

PSPP can import GnumericOpenDocument and Excel spreadsheetsPostgres databasescomma-separated values– and ASCII-files. It can export files in the SPSS ‘portable’ and ‘system’ file formats and to ASCII files. Some of the libraries used by PSPP can be accessed programmatically; PSPP-Perl provides an interface to the libraries used by PSPP.

Origins

The PSPP project (originally called “Fiasco”) is a free, open-source alternative to the proprietary statistics package SPSS. SPSS is closed-source and includes a restrictive licence anddigital rights management. The author of PSPP considered this ethically unacceptable, and decided to write a program which might with time become functionally identical to SPSS, except that there would be no licence expiry, and everyone would be permitted to copy, modify and share the program.

Release history

  • 0.7.5 June 2010 http://pspp.awardspace.com/
  • 0.6.2 October 2009
  • 0.6.1 October 2008
  • 0.6.0 June 2008
  • 0.4.0.1 August 2007
  • 0.4.0 August 2005
  • 0.3.0 April 2004
  • 0.2.4 January 2000
  • 0.1.0 August 1998

Third Party Reviews

In the book “SPSS For Dummies“, the author discusses PSPP under the heading of “Ten Useful Things You Can Find on the Internet” [1]. In 2006, the South African Statistical Association presented a conference which included an analysis of how PSPP can be used as a free replacement to SPSS [2].

Citation-

Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to gnu@gnu.org. There are also other ways to contact the FSF. Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to bug-gnu-pspp@gnu.org.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St – Suite 330, Boston, MA 02110, USA – Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.