Interactive data analysis based on dialog systems in S-PLUS (Q1297885)

Principles of S-PLUS software organization are discussed. The structure of dialog (which is an object in S-PLUS) and organization of function calls by callback functions are described. The graphics in S-PLUS can be generated by a dialog or by callback functions. A dialog can generate a child dialog and two dialogs can interact by commands. This structure provides a flexible framework for interactive linked graphics systems construction. An example with acute care hospitals in 40 US states is considered with linked geographic maps and Trellis plots. The other example is devoted to sensitivity analysis. A sequence of samples with different distributions is generated, q-q plots are displayed for the last sample and summary statistics (trimmed means) are displayed in a scatterplot. The S-PLUS system provides interaction between all the graphic and sample generating tools.