From dhart@cs.umass.edu Fri Jan 21 16:32:47 EST 1994 Article: 11832 of comp.lang.lisp Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.lisp:11832 Path: honeydew.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!uhog.mit.edu!news.mtholyoke.edu!nic.umass.edu!ymir.cs.umass.edu!titanic!dhart From: dhart@cs.umass.edu (Dave Hart) Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Subject: CLIP/CLASP software release Date: 20 Jan 1994 20:01:25 GMT Organization: Univ of Massachusetts, Comp Sci Dept Lines: 115 Sender: dhart@earhart (Dave Hart) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2hmnulINNgdq@ymir.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: dhart@cs.umass.edu (Dave Hart) NNTP-Posting-Host: earhart.cs.umass.edu The CLIP/CLASP Package Experimental Knowledge Systems Laboratory Computer Science Department, LGRC University of Massachusetts PO Box 34610 Amherst, MA 01003-4610 CLIP/CLASP is an online laboratory environment for the analysis of Artificial Intelligence programs. Using CLIP/CLASP the experimenter can: - collect and filter data while a program runs - define and automatically run experiments to evaluate a program's behavior in different conditions - transform, filter and partition data in powerful ways - examine data graphically and statistically - run parametric and computer-intensive tests CLIP/CLASP is comprised of two tools: the Common Lisp Instrumentation Package (CLIP) for data collection and experiment design, and the Common Lisp Analytical Statistics Package (CLASP) for data manipulation and statistical analysis. CLIP/CLASP was developed in the Experimental Knowledge Systems Laboratory to support the empirical analysis of AI program behavior, and is now being used in a number of AI laboratories. Using CLIP the experimenter defines and manages "alligator clips" to collect data while the program runs. CLIP writes this data to files in a format specified by the experimenter, who may choose from among a variety of commonly used data formats or use a format customized for CLASP analysis. Once defined, clips may be saved for reuse in other experiments. CLIP also includes facilities to support experiment design, such as definition of experimental factors, scenario scripting, and automatic factorial combination of independent variables. CLIP automatically collects summary data at the end of each experiment trial, and can also collect and filter time-series and event-based data for periodic and/or non-periodic events specified by the experimenter. CLIP allows partially completed experiments to be restarted from the point of interruption. CLASP provides an interactive environment for data manipulation and statistical analysis that is fully integrated with Common Lisp and the Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM). CLASP has all the descriptive and hypothesis-testing statistics one expects of a moderately powerful statistics packge, plus it includes many features that facilitate exploratory data analysis. CLASP's unique and most powerful feature is its user interface, complete with a "notebook" that is both a "desktop" for icons and a lisp interactor pane. CLASP uses SciGraph, a scientific graphing package from Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. SciGraph is a publicly available and extensible CLIM-based system. CLASP includes powerful facilities for data manipulation, exploratory data analysis, assessing confidence intervals and testing hypotheses. It has a clearly-defined programmer interface and can be extended by the user with the addition of new features. Data Manipulation: Data can be transformed in many ways using CLASP, such as smoothing time series to reduce noise, or applying log transforms to straighten learning curves. Data can be filtered by many criteria. Unlike many statistical packages, CLASP provides powerful partitioning facilities to complement CLIP's ability to run large experiments automatically in many different conditions, collecting many data. Exploratory Data Analysis: CLASP's graphical facilities, provided by SciGraph, support histograms, lineplots, scatterplots, spin plots, and the essential exploratory technique of coloring partitions. CLASP also provides descriptive statistics including: mean, median, trimmed mean, variance, interquartile range, correlation, simple regression, and multiple regression. Tests: CLASP supports confidence intervals on most statistics, with the option of using either parametric or bootstrap methods. Bootstrap versions of several tests are supported. Statistical tests in CLASP include t-tests, chi-square, one- and two-way analysis of variance, and degree of fit in simple and multiple regression. New tests, specifically designed for AI applications (e.g., tests of censored data, dependency detection in execution traces), are under development. User Interface: CLASP has a powerful user interface that combines the desktop-style accessibility of all data objects with full integration into the underlying lisp environment. Commands are menu selectable or can be entered by hand. Command arguments, such as datasets, variables, previous results, and even graphic objects, are all mouse sensitive. All session activity appears in a notebook that can be saved for future use or record-keeping. The notebook is also a lisp interactor pane, giving the user the full access to lisp language constructs for specialized needs not provided by CLASP. Programmer Interface: CLASP's data manipulation functions, statistical tests, and graphical functions (through SciGraph) are directly accessible to the programmer for inclusion in other programs. The programmer interface is fully documented in the CLIP/CLASP User Manual. Extensions: CLASP (and CLIP) are distributed with source code, and their modular design allows for easy addition of user-desired features. CLIP/CLASP is written in Common Lisp, CLOS and CLIM and runs on several platforms, including Suns, Alpha's and Decstations. It is distributed with a User Manual and with a tutorial for CLASP. CLIP/CLASP is available through anonymous ftp at ftp.cs.umass.edu. CLIP can be found under the directory pub/eksl/clip, CLASP under pub/eksl/clasp, and a tutorial on CLASP under pub/eksl/clasp-tutorial. Development of CLIP/CLASP continues, and is largely driven by user demand. Comments, bugs and new feature requests can be sent to clasp-support@cs.umass.edu. For more information about CLIP/CLASP, contact David Hart (dhart@cs.umass.edu, 413-545-3278) . Dave Hart Experimental Knowledge Systems Laboratory 413-545-3278 Computer Science Dept., LGRC 413-545-1249 (fax) University of Massachusetts dhart@cs.umass.edu Box 34610 Amherst, MA 01003-4610