AlsPak V1.0 - Read me - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WHAT IS ALSPAK ? AlsPak V1.0 is a simple shell for running ALS programs on the Apple Macintosh. ALS programs have been written at the Dept. of Data Theory of the University of Leiden. They are part of the Gifi system for nonlinear multivariate analysis. AlsPak V1.0 runs ANACOR Correspondence analysis GROUPALS Cluster analysis HOMALS Homogeneity analysis OVERALS Multiset canonical correlation analysis 'Simple' means that I made no specific attempt to customize the ALS programs themselves to the Macintosh (this does not mean that they run without modification). Users of ALS mainframe versions should have no difficulty in using AlsPak. The in- and output is almost identical to what you are used to. The difference is that you can do HOME-ALS at home (provided you own a Mac with at least 2Mb). With a few minor changes, the original user's guides apply. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WHAT ARE ALL THOSE WINDOWS FOR? AlsPak V1.0 has 5 standard windows. Each of them has its own purpose. They can be all edited. The windows are: DATA This is a spreadsheet-like window in which data can be entered and edited. COMMANDS This window contains the commands that are send to the ALS program of interest. 'Commands' is a nice word for a series of numbers that specify what the program should do. OUTPUT Not hard to guess why we have this one. SCRATCH EDIT This is an auxilary text editor. Use it for whatever you want, like reading this text. SCRATCH SHEET Auxilary data sheet. Handy for storing temporary data. In fact, all data are temporary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DEFINING DATA There are many possibilities to define the analysis data: 1. Enter all values directly into the DATA window. This is OK for small datasets but inconvenient for larger ones. The sheets respond rather slow. 2. Use the SCRATCH EDITOR. This is more convenient. Cut and paste the values into the DATA sheet with the COPY AS TABLE menu command. 3. Read in data files stored by other programs (TEXT files only) The OPEN menu command allows to read in data in either the DATA window or in the SCRATCH SHEET window. It expects that values are separated by TABS and that rows are separated by RETURN's (TAB-DELIMITED FORMAT). Most data analysis and spreadsheet software can write this format. 4. Paste over the clipboard Combinations of these possibilities can be made. For example, if you cannot directly read a sheet (because headers are present, or because SPACES are used instead of TABS) then you can read the file into an EDIT window and cut out the values by the COPY AS TABLE menu command. The DATA and the SCRATCH SHEET windows can handle only INTEGER values, i.e. whole numbers. Values that are not whole numbers will be ROUNDED OFF. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HELP FOR OLD FRIENDS There are some differences in the deck setup compared to the original mainframe versions: 1. No format cards are necessary anymore (the last cards). All data are transferred internally with format I5. This means that you cannot have more than 99999 categories per variable. 2. Caution: Defaults cannot be left blank! Use a '0' instead. (there are more defaults than you think) 3. AlsPak V1.0 does not support auxilary output. It can still be requested though. The ALS program then produces a file named FORxxx in the default directory. 'xxx' is the fortran logical unit number, but I don't recommend this practice. 4. Alas, you cannot route the output to a line printer. Use the LaserWriter instead. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TECHNICAL STUFF For those who are interested: AlsPak was programmed under MPW 3.1 using - Language Systems FORTRAN V2.0 for the ALS programs - MPW C 3.0 for the Mac interface code - FaceIt 4.0c for Toolbox support - ResEdit 1.2b3 for the resources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - COMMON QUESTIONS Q. Help, it won't run my problem. A. You have more than 32000 cases or variables. Delete some. Q. Help, the program responds with 'ERROR IN READING COMMAND FILE UNIT5' A. Most likely, your deck-setup contains an error. These may be hard to find. Remember the 'No-defaults-restriction'. Also possible, you accidently ran the wrong ALS program. Q. Help, the menubar disappears and the machine crashes... A. You're not running MultiFinder Q. Help, 'Command .' does not give me a break. A. The Mac is in numbercrunching mode. Do not disturb. The beachball-cursor spins. Wait or reset. Q. Help, the data sheet only shows one column A. Values are not separated by tabs. Read them into the text sheet Q. Help, AlsPak doesn't read file FOR00x A. FOR00x files are not closed automatically. Quit and restart AlsPak. Q. Help, the program crashes with a 'not enough memory' mesage. A. Increase the space allocated under MultiFinder, and/or, restart AlsPak and run no more than one ALS program - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONCLUSION To Mac standards, AlsPak V1.0 is very primitive. But at least, IT WORKS!. Don't expect miracles. Just wait for version 2, which probably never appears. Stef van Buuren Dept. of Psychometrics University of Leiden Wassenaarseweg 52 2333 AK Leiden The Netherlands