Some proposals for APL2 specification of statistical algorithms

Abstract

Software engineers use specification languages to allow programmers to reason about programs and their correctness at any level of detail. The APL2 language and its data structures have some striking affinities with the apparatus needed to specify statistical algorithms and it seems reasonable to exploit these by defining a common standard, the adoption of which will greatly enhance the ability of statisticians to communicate algorithms both amongst themselves and in the world at large. This paper proposes some rules and conventions which might form the basis of such a standard and illustrates where there are particularly happy marriages between the requirements of specification of statistical algorithms and the language characteristics of APL2.