Reproducible Econometric Research. A Critical Review of the State of the Art.

Recent software developments are reviewed from the vantage point of reproducible econometric research. We argue that the emergence of new tools, particularly in the open-source community, have greatly eased the burden of documenting and archiving both empirical and simulation work in econometrics. Some of these tools are highlighted in the discussion of three small replication exercises.Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematic

AOPS : an abstraction oriented programming system for literate programming

The practice of literate programming is not widespread because existing literate programming systems have some undesirable characteristics such as programming language and text processor dependence and lack of flexible tools for viewing and manipulation of the source file. This dissertation describes the literate programming system AOPS (Abstraction Oriented Programming System) which addresses both of these problems. AOPS is programming language and text processor independent literate programming system. AOPS tools include a hypertext browser, a lister with the ability to select what is presented and what is suppressed, and a filter to extract the program code from the AOPS source file. AOPS introduces the notion of a phantom abstraction that enhances the understandability of the literate program and when used in conjunction with the browser greatly extends the capabilities of AOPS. We also discuss how the design of AOPS supports extension of the concept of literate programming to encompass the entire software life cycle. Finally we describe an experiment which showed that literate programs contain more documentation than traditional programs

Staging and production : a proposal to develop a computer software program for opera and theatre directors

"The production of a play, musical or opera can be compared to the manufacture of any complicated process or product. At present, there is no standard method of accumulating the data necessary for staging a play, musical, or opera, even though the production process is similar for all three. Theatrical productions have stage managers, directors, and assistants responsible for collecting forms, reports, and design-plans in various formats. This data is taken by hand, on personal laptops, or on software programs such as AutoCAD (Computer Assisted Design) or WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get). Software programs currently in use are not particularly linked or compatible. This lack of a cohesive data retrieval system is frustrating, time consuming, and expensive. The focus of this study is to propose and describe one possible solution. Existing technologies could be developed into a software system, henceforward called Artisterene´, that gathers, stores, and organizes theatrical production data. This software system functions as a virtual prompt script with three major components that work in tandem. The first component is an interactive, three-dimensional animation program for blocking (movement on stage). The second module is a secure online subscription service of theatrical databases (stage dimensions, technical capabilities, scores or scripts, contacts, etc.). The third component synchronizes cues extracted from master lists submitted by each production team (lighting, sound, and set design). These color-coded cues are superimposed on the U¨berscript (master script or score) for the current production. This system manages the production process from beginning to end. Management can remotely edit production data by using hand-held devices. The production data is then added to a show-specific repository with online access by authorized personnel. Database subscriptions and software sales of Artisterene´ will target opera and theatre companies, and educational institutions. This software system will standardize the production process and greatly reduce planning and rehearsal time. Artisterene´ could emerge as the universal format for sharing production data, and could become a definitive teaching tool used to train directors and stage managers."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

An evaluation of Digital Chisel 3.0 as a multimedia authoring tool in a year seven classroom

Most commercial interactive multimedia authoring packages are designed to be used by teachers and trainers to build commercial training or classroom teaching applications (Handler, Dana, Peters & Moor, 1995; Magel, 1997). The evolution of interactive multimedia technologies however, has made it possible for students to become actively involved in creating their own interactive multimedia projects, and in so doing, gain considerable learning benefit (Lehrer 1993). Facilitating this in the classroom and particularly at the Year Seven level, requires the use of a cost-effective, purpose-built authoring tool. Digital Chisel 3.0 (DC3), was developed by Pierian Spring Software (1997), as just such a product. This study was a summative product evaluation, utilising qualitative methodology that assessed the effectiveness of DC3, as a multimedia authoring tool for student use in a Year Seven classroom. Two adult expert reviewers and four Year Seven students assisted with the evaluation. The sources of evidence for this study included the use of participant observation, conversational and semi-structured interview, video recording, questionnaire and anecdotal field notes. The process of analysis was inductive, using the Analytic Framework suggested by Le Compte, Millroy & Preissle, (1992, pp. 763-766). Digital Chisel 3.0 was packaged with an easy to read printed manual and a useful audio/visual library on CD-ROM. With WYSIWYG display and drag-and-drop visual programming environments, the students found the component routines in DC3 relatively easy to learn. The use of the Microsoft style of interface and edit conventions allowed the previous learning of the students to be readily transferred to this product. The students also found constructing complex interactions in the Workbench relatively easy to master, as no scripting was required. DC3 was also customisable to three learning/school levels. Probably the most outstanding problem with this application was the amount of RAM it required to run efficiently. In it\u27s former configuration, it did not allow \u27room\u27 for multi-tasking and definitely did not run smoothly at the recommended 32 Megabytes of RAM. This both lowered the efficiency of operation, and severely challenged the motivation of all the users. The Table facility was almost totally unusable, as it failed to hold inserted elements and remained unstable through all attempts to use it. Although the intention for DC3 was to allow for cross-platform application, this function was not evident at the time it was evaluated. However, despite its shortcomings, Digital Chisel 3.0 proved to be well received by the students. They expressed enthusiasm for the extra freedom that this product\u27s features provided