MagicPlot

Any new arrival on the technical graphics scene is going to have its initial successes with those who are not already committed to investment in existing tools so, while I would recommend MagicPlot to many established users, I will concentrate here on its particular strengths for those who fall into the ‘first buyer market’. For that reason, I’ve done a lot of testing with non-statisticians and non-mathematicians doing analytic work in their own specialisms, particularly students at various levels.

The first point of appeal for this group is financial affordability: the full commercial version costs just over €100 and there is a free student version (with constrained feature set – all descriptions here are of the full product) as well. Then there is the appeal of a very clean, straightforward, easy to learn graphical interface, with little to confuse. The program itself is quick, responsive and light on its feet. Installation has a simplicity which reminded me of the best side of MS-DOS days when all one had to do was put a disk in a drive and start work – you can run MagicPlot from a USB flash drive, taking it and its data files with you from machine to machine. Both full and student versions can be installed on the same machine (though not simultaneously).

The freedom to move is not limited to a single operating system, either; there are versions available for recent releases of Windows, Mac OS and flavours of UNIX, so long as a current (32- or 64-bit) Java installation is present. [More...]

Nota bene 10

[This review was made on the basis of several months’ experience with late public beta versions of release 10, which have proved solid enough, although some components of the final feature set are not yet in place.]

Nota Bene (NB), generally thought of as a word processor, is actually a remarkably complete academic information management environment, with a word processor as its face. Its concept-based synonym searching also makes it a useful exploratory and preparatory text analysis tool.

Central to the platform, from that perspective, is Orbis which provides automatic indexed free form hypertext database searching of any material (notes, book length texts, field and lab reports, data sets) which has been written in or imported to NB. [more]

EndNote X6

While there are several developments in X6, the big news has to be that EndNote has completed its development of a viable cloud integration. There are a number of benefits to this, but the two big ones are geographic access and platform independence. Like many users nowadays, I work from wherever I happen to be, using whatever machine is most appropriate; I like to keep and manage my core bibliographic databases on a single master computer at my base, but want to access and update those in use from anywhere in the world on any device – including a smartphone as I use spare time in a queue.

The online EndNote Web tool has been available, and becoming progressively stronger, for some time, but until now the link between it and the desktop was less than transparent. That problem has now been addressed. From within EndNote X6 on the desktop you set preferences for automatic synchronisation between local and web versions of your bibliographic database, then forget it. Every change you make on your desktop is reflected in your web image and vice versa. Storage capacity limit is now 50,000 records and five gigabytes, which ought to satisfy the needs of most users. [more]

Origin and OriginPro 9

Origin and OriginPro both went 64-bit in their previous release (8.6) and it was a welcome advance, but this is the update in which the effects really start to show off. On the most intensively demanding graphing tasks you don’t need a benchmark test to show their speed gain; it’s clearly visible as you work. One complex 3D operation which used to allow me time for a swig of coffee is now complete before I lift my finger from the mouse click which triggered it. … … … Exactly how much of this is a result of refined 64-bit utilisation and how much is down to default OpenGL graphics for 3D work I can’t say, but the net result is startling and impressive.

Putting aside the speed issue, my personal favourite picks were additions which make work flow more smoothly and, therefore, render data exploration and interpretation more transparent. [more]

MapleSim 16

After an initial lockstep phase in which MapleSim upgrades were closely tied to those for Maple, release 6 was held back and appeared shortly after Maple 16. It may be that this marks the point when the simulation package asserts its independent existence as an application in its own right, rather than a younger sibling in the shadow of its older stable mate.

Not that the links with Maple have loosened in any functional sense; in fact, their potential for integration continues to grow. Maple can now transparently open MapleSim (and Modelica, of which more in a moment) models within its worksheets and make thread safe MapleSim function calls from its TPM (the high level, multithreaded, Task Programming Model). Information from the MapleSim model, including system equations, can be accessed, as can MapleSim's full solver repertoire. And Maple can set or change MapleSim parameters and solver settings, so is able to operate as a symbolic front end. The two products remain firmly complementary, but not co-dependent; MapleSim is developing a wider vision.

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Solas 4.0

Missing data values are the bane of a statistician’s life. At best, when the distribution of missing values is truly random, they reduce sample size which has a knock-on effect on conclusions and confidence. At worst, when there is an extensive pattern of systematic omissions, they can render a whole data set completely useless.

At the same time, attempting to fill in (or, in the language of the trade, impute) the missing values is a fraught business full of pitfalls. There is an ever present danger of building assumptions into the data which are then expressed in analyses.

Very often, however, the benefits of imputation in retrieving at least part of a study for useful non-content-robust analysis outweigh purist qualms. The question is then how to go about the process in the best way and this is where Solas comes in... [more]

AdviseStat

In an ideal world, everyone who uses statistics or statistical methods (for whatever purpose) would fully and thoroughly understand them, making the best possible decisions in every instance. The real world, alas, is not like that. We all have to make use of disciplines which are not our own, making the best decisions we can in partial or imperfect knowledge. Data analysis is a discipline so thoroughly essential in almost every area of science that it is bound to be widely, though unintentionally, misapplied.

There is, therefore, a great need for software tools which try to guide uncertain users into best possible practice. All statistics software has, for a long time now, been exploring and developing ways to do this. Some have made it their first principle and AdviseStat is one such solution... [more]

SigmaPlot 12

One of the most popular technical graphics products used in scientific research, SigmaPlot benefitted in its last release from wholesale import of analytic tools provided by its stable mate, SigmaStat. This decision pushed it firmly into the exploratory statistics segment of the market, which it had already penetrated on a de-facto basis for many users. The strategy continues in the current release, with the inclusion of enzyme kinematics... [more...]

mathStatica 2.5

Last reviewed by me in version 2, mathStatica sees impressive developments with this upgrade – both in its own right and in its utilisation of new features in Wolfram Mathematica 8 (which it requires). According to the documentation, these are built on a 60 per cent expansion in the code base; I have to take that on trust, but the resulting benefits are empirically verifiable without any special effort.

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OriginPro 8.6

With release 8.6, OriginLab’s data flagship visualisation and analysis product goes 64 bit ... [more]

OriginPro 8.5.1

Software publishers vary in their approach to version numbering and frequency of issue. Some only issue major, full digit upgrades, and then at longish intervals. Others go for small but frequent issues. With some products, a third digit increment (as here between OriginPro 8.5 and 8.5.1) would signal a minor maintenance issue of interest to particular users; with OriginLab it indicates a useful general development, which will reward the effort of updating. So what has changed since release 8.5?

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Unscrambler X

Since Unscrambler last passed this way, then in version 9, its Norwegian publisher Camo Software has launched a 'new generation' image. At its heart is Unscrambler X (currently 10.1, the third sub-version in numerical release terms; some limitations in the original 10.0.0 have been resolved at this point), with additional products to extend its reach and power in particular directions. My review is based a month’s use of the 64-bit option, although a quick run through on a one gigabyte Windows XP system showed the 32-bit alternative to be completely happy there. I’ll combine a quick overview, for those who’ve not encountered Unscrambler in its previous incarnations, with a skim of what’s new. [more...]

FlexPro 9

FlexPro has always been a data analysis product with notable differences from the market norm, deriving from a specific philosophy following purpose rather than fashion. This doesn’t change in release 9, which I have been evaluating in three live studies over the past couple of months. The most obvious difference remains, I am glad to say, as it has always been; the strongly database-oriented interface with clear data structuring and typing in defiance of the spreadsheet’s looser habits. [more...]

Maple 15

Having gone all out, over several releases, to develop a graphically ‘pencil and paper’ face for its CAS, Maple now has a polished smart worksheet interface which no longer changes in obvious ways between versions. Developments are now made behind the scenes, allowing an existing user to pick up the latest manifestation and use it without any pause to acclimatise.

A command line option remains available, and popular with many experienced Maple users. The ‘classic’ worksheet, however, has taken a back seat, documented as ‘a basic worksheet environment for older computers with limited memory’ and present in 32-bit, but not 64-bit, installations. The graphic calculator interface, so useful for quick scratchpad explorations, remains for all Windows users. Consideration has been given to making the best use of small netbook screens, and the whole package continues to run responsively and well on all systems. [more...]

Unistat 6.0

Every scientist has to be a statistician these days, but not every scientist wants to be. The ideal data analysis tool, for many, is one that does what is required whilst demanding the least possible diversion of mental energy from core concerns, the fewest possible changes to working habits and the least possible investment in reskilling. Unistat is a well-established occupant of this market segment with a proven track record, particularly in the life sciences.

As with previous releases, installation of 6.0 provides two short cut icons: one to start up Unistat as a free standing window with its own worksheet, the other to open Excel with an additional ribbon toolbar accessing Unistat’s tool set (other spreadsheet and database files can also be opened, and Unistat offers developer tools allowing add-in facility to virtually any other suitable product if required). There is remarkably little to choose, operationally, between the two options. The most demanding user will always find that the freestanding option has the edge, but those more comfortable within Excel are unlikely to notice any significant disadvantage. [more]

Mathematica 8

There are a lot of reasons to enthuse about the new release of Wolfram Mathematica; across the board and not least (from my point of view) the statistics and probability coverage. The headline, however, has to be extended integration with Wolfram Alpha, particularly the use of the linguistic interface to provide natural language lookup.

Most computer algebra packages are working towards increased intuitive access to their power, bringing their methods into the hands of more potential problem solvers, using better entry methods. What is different here is that the user can bring experience or understanding from many other environments and have it interpreted into annotated Mathematica syntax, both enabling and educating in one go.

As a simple example... [more...]

OriginPro 8.5

With the latest incremental version update (8.1 to 8.5, now at service release 1), OriginLab’s increasingly versatile data graphics package sees useful improvements and new developments in a number of areas. Most of them are common to both Origin and OriginPro, though the 2D FFT Filter is restricted to the Pro version.

One, perhaps apparently peripheral to the core function at first sight, but valuable to scientific users as part of a thorough documentary regime quite apart from straightforward communication, is embedding of external OLE dynamic objects. This is primarily aimed at MS Office users bringing over their material from Word or Excel, but when explored works well for every supply application I tried – from graphics programs through PDFs to live material being processed in other data analysis packages.

Particularly beguiling is having live, editable equations in the same page as plots...[more...]

GenStat 13.2

The 13th edition of GenStat (formally version 13.2, after a service release) continues recent development trends, with broad based development of reach and function centred around an emphasis on biosciences, but plenty of appeal for broad scientific application.

This approach finds particular expression in a new menu, one of several progressive changes under the top level Statistics drop down, collecting tools for qualitative trait loci analysis under the heading QTL (Linkage/Association). This is more than an interface metaphor, though: the GenStat server stores and maps information about QTL data structures in a very intuitive and productive dedicated centralised space for common access by the tools grouped here. [...more...]

EndNote X4

With the recently released 14th version, EndNote continues its highly successful trick of evolving as an information manager without compromising its core rôle as a bibliographic reference handler. There is new material in several areas, major additions have been made from a functional viewpoint, and a signpost erected to future expansion potential.

[More]

Maple 14 and MapleSim 4

Upgrades to Maplesoft's flagship computer algebra package Maple and high profile simulation sibling MapleSim have now firmly established an annual pattern of linked release, with versions 14 and 4 respectively having recently appeared. Since MapleSim draws its power from Maple, it therefore makes sense to make a shift from past practice and review them together. [more...]