Yxilon – a Modular Open-Source Statistical Programming Language

Statistical research has always been at the edge of available computing power. Huge datasets, e.g in DataMining or Quantitative Finance, and computationally intensive techniques, e.g. bootstrap methods, always require a little bit more computing power than is currently available. But the most popular statistical programming language R, as well as statistical programming languages like S or XploRe, are interpreted which makes them slow in computing intensive areas. The common solution is to implement these routines in low-level programming languages like C/C++ or Fortran and subsequently integrate them as dynamic linked libraries (DLL) or shared object libraries (SO) in the statistical programming language.statistical programming language, XploRe, Yxilon, Java, dynamic linked libraries, shared object libraries

Yxilon – A Client/Server Based Statistical Environment

Along with many others, we agree that a modern education in statistics needs to incorporate the practical analysis of real datasets, which are usually more complex than the common examples found in standard textbooks. The software used in the teaching of statistics includes standard spreadsheet environments such as OpenOffice and Excel and dedicated commercial and non-commercial packages such as R, Minitab or SPSS. With the freely available Yxilon environment we add another package and proliferate the statistical programming language XploRe, using a modern client/server based architecture. This architecture has the capabilities of serving statistical results in a variety of flavors for different groups of users. In this paper we describe the general setup of the Yxilon environment and present selected technical details.E-learning, Statistical Software.

Integrable e-lements for Statistics Education

Without doubt modern education in statistics must involve practical, computer-based data analysis but the question arises whether and how computational elements should be integrated into the canon of methodological education. Should the student see and study high-level programming code right at the beginning of his or her studies? Which technology can be presented during class and which computational elements can re-occur (at increasing level of complexity) during the different courses? In this paper we address these questions and discuss where e-techniques have their limits in statistics education.electronic books, hypertext, e-supported teaching, statistical software

e-Learning Statistics - A Selective Review

Modern computing equipment is present at schools and universities at all levels of education. In the statistical sciences computers offer great opportunities to enrich the learning process by the means of e.g. animations, software integration or on-the-fly computations. A personal review of different e-learning platforms for statistics is done in this paper. This review reveals facts that could be taken into account for future e-learning platforms in statistics. One of the most striking discoveries of our analysis is that students of statistics actually do not use electronic media in the desired frequency and actually rely more on print media such as books,copies of slides, etc.e-learning, electronic books, hypertext courseware, statistical software

Space Exploration: NASA Investment into the Private Space Sector and Public Opinion

The space exploration industry has entered a new era with companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin leading the way to the privatization of space. This paper examines public opinion regarding the source of space exploration funding and proposes possible motivations for these sentiments. This is followed by an assessment on NASA’s investment trends into the commercial space industry. Both probes review the past decade, to reveal the public-private relationship in this new era and finally, conclude whether or not public opinion plays a role in the degree of NASA investment and what that role may be

Yxilon: Designing The Next Generation, Vertically Integrable Statistical Software Environment

Modern statistical computing requires smooth integration of new algorithms and quantitative analysis results in all sorts of platforms such as webbrowsers, standard and proprietary application software. Common statistical software packages can often not be adapted to integrate into new environments or simply lack the demands users and especially beginners have. With Yxilon we propose a vertically integrable, modular statistical computing environment, providing the user a rich set of methods and a diversity of different interfaces, including command-line interface, web clients and interactive examples in electronic books. This architecture allows the users to rely upon only one environment in order to organize data from a variety of sources, analyse them and visualize or export the results to other software programs. The design of Yxilon is inspired by XploRe, a statistical environment developed by MD*Tech and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Yxilon incorporates several ideas from recent developments and design principles in software engineering: modular plug-in architecture, platform independence, and separation of user interfaces and computing engine. --Java,Client/Server,XploRe,Yxilon,electronic publishing,e-books

Essays on the use of e-Learning in statistics and the implementation of statistical software

Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit bündelt die Veröffentlichungen des Autors und seiner Koautoren zu den Themen e-Learning und statistischer Software. Die Kapitel 2 bis 5 sind Aspekten des e-Learning gewidmet, die Kapitel 6 bis 9 beschreiben die Entwicklung der statistischen Programmiersprache Yxilon. In Kapitel 2, Koautoren Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, wird erörtert, ob und wie computerbasierte Elemente in den Kanon der methodischen Bildung integriert werden sollen und wo die Grenzen des e-Learning in der Statistik-Ausbildung liegen. Kapitel 3, Koautoren Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, gibt Einschätzungen verschiedener e-Learning Plattformen und beschreibt Punkte, die bei der Entwicklung von e-Learning Plattformen berücksichtigt werden sollten. Kapitel 4, geschrieben mit Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, diskutiert zwei Veröffentlichungen in der "International Statistical Review", die eine technische Lösung für die Verbesserung des Verständnisses der Statistik-Lehre vorstellen. Kapitel 5, Koautoren Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, beschreibt die Anwendung von Web-Techniken für die Lehre in Statistik. Weiterhin stellt es die Quantnet Plattform vor, eine Plattform für die Verwaltung von Programmen und Daten. In Kapitel 6, Koautoren Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, diskutieren die Autoren die Anforderungen an eine Statistical Engine. Kapitel 7, geschrieben mit Yuval Guri und Sigbert Klinke, erläutert die Ideen, die zur Re-Implementierung der XploRe Sprache geführt haben und diskutiert ausgewählte technische Aspekte der Yxilon Plattform wie Objektdatenbank und die Erzeugung von kompilierbarem Code für Hochsprachen. In Kapitel 8, Koautoren Wolfgang Härdle und Sigbert Klinke, wird die implementierte Client-Server Struktur beschrieben. Server und Kommunikationsprotokoll werden zusammen mit dem entwickelten Client und der Grafik-Engine beschrieben. Das letzte Kapitel, beschreibt die Struktur der Yxilon Plattform in ihrer jetzigen Form.The following doctoral thesis collects the papers the author has written with his coauthors on e-Learning and statistical software. The chapters 2 to 5 are devoted to selected aspects of e-Learning, the chapters 6 to 9 describe the development of the statistical programming environment Yxilon. In chapter 2, coauthored by Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, the question whether and how computational elements should be integrated into the canon of methodological education and where e-techniques have their limits in statistics education is discussed. Chapter 3, coauthored by Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, gives reviews of different e-learning platforms for statistics and reveals facts that may be taken into account for future e-learning platforms in statistics and related fields. Chapter 4, written with Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, discusses two papers published in International Statistical Review which both offer a technical solution to improve the understanding of statistics by students. Chapter 5, coauthored by Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, describes web-related techniques for teaching statistics. It furthermore introduces the Quantnet platform, a framework to manage scientific code and data. In chapter 6, coauthored by Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, the requirements for a statistical engine are discussed. Chapter 7, written jointly with Yuval Guri and Sigbert Klinke, explains ideas which led to the reimplementation of the XploRe language. In chapter 8, coauthored by Wolfgang Härdle and Sigbert Klinke, the implemented client/server structure of the Yxilon platform is laid out in terms of technical features. The server and the communication protocol are described together with the developed Java client featuring the Jasplot graphics engine. Finally chapter 9 describes the structure of the Yxilon environment in its present form