TRACE—III: An implicit programming system for inductive data analysis

Abstract

A previous on-line data analysis system has been generalized and extended on a Digital Equipment PDP-10 computer into an implicit programming system utilizing a special-purpose programming language aimed at behavioral scientists with little or no data processing background who desire to perform special-purpose data analyses or examine their data from an inductive as well as a deductive stance. Central to this new system is a comprehensive data management subsystem that retrieves data from a data base according to implicit associations among data units; that updates the data base with the results of data manipulations in a way that preserves associations among existing data units and establishes such associations with new data units; and that relieves the user of all responsibility for database and file management.