[Gretl-users] Re: Re: GRETL Feature Suggestion (Allin Cottrell)

Fri May 5 12:28:24 EDT 2006

> > (1)- First of all, when I try to open my data in spreadsheet
> > mode I get an error message saying that I cannot open
> > spreadsheet that has more than 1600 rows.
>
> This limitation is specific to the Windows version of gretl, and
> it stems from the gui toolkit (GTK+) that gretl uses.  For some
> obscure reason, connected I think with support for Windows 98, the
> sort of GTK window that gretl uses for its built-in spreadsheet
> can't currently have more than about 1600 rows without falling
> apart, on the MS Windows platform.
Great! One more reason to use Linux (I have a dual booting machine and
test both Linux and Windows versions)

> > Consider a simple command that can be used in other spreadsheets:
> > "=IF(AND(A1=1,B1=1),LOG(C1),"na")"
>
> Gretl, along with most other econometrics programs, defines such
> transformations using named variables rather than cell-ranges.
> You have the boolean operators (&,|,=,!) to work with (see the
> entry for "genr" in the gretl manual).  For example, assuming that
> variables named 'A', 'B' and 'C' already exist:
>
> newvar = (A=1&B=1)*log(C) + !(A=1&B=1)*NA
This way of defining new variables doesn't look so bad. I guess I can
better my computing habits by learning this method of handling data.
This actually looks more powerful.

> For this reason -- and also because gretl can import Excel and
> Gnumeric worksheets (with an OpenOffice import facility not too
> far off), so you can do data transformations using your favorite
> spreadsheet if you prefer that method -- it's not a high priority
> to offer a formula facility in gretl's built-in spreadsheet.
You are right. There are probably much more important things to worry
about. Still, this might be a nice addition in the longrun since the
spreadsheet is already there and it actually looks pretty decent even
without features.


On 5/3/06, gretl-users-request at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu
<gretl-users-request at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. GRETL Feature Suggestion (Talha Yalta)
>    2. Re: GRETL Feature Suggestion (Allin Cottrell)
>    3. homogeneity (Zhukov Pavel)
>    4. Gretl in Portuguese (Claudio Puty)
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Talha Yalta" <talhayalta at gmail.com>
> To: gretl-users at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu
> Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 18:06:28 -0400
> Subject: [Gretl-users] GRETL Feature Suggestion
> Hi:
>
> I am a Ph.D. candidate at Fordham University in NY and I am using
> Gretl extensively for a few months now. I am a big fan of linux and
> open source software and I must say I am very impressed with Gretl. I
> would like to thank all the contributors for bringing us this elegant
> and very high quality software which is a pure joy to use.
>
> I would also like to suggest a few new features:
>
> I usually work with PSID data that contains more than 200 columns and
> 30000 rows and I need to  create a number of dummies and bring the
> sample to a more manageble size (say 4000 observations). For this
> task, I really wanted to use openoffice calc and gnumeric but
> unfortunately I realized that MS excel is much more efficient working
> with large files since opensource alternatives become very sluggish
> even with data containing about 10000 observations.
>
> Now, I know that Gretl has a built in spreadsheet and it looks like it
> is quite efficient. So I think it would be a great idea to improve
> this feature a little bit:
>
> (1)- First of all, when I try to open my data in spreadsheet mode I
> get an error message saying that I cannot open spreadsheet that has
> more than 1600 rows. This doesn't make sense to me. We are allowed to
> use very large data sets, why cannot have this feature cripled?
> (2)- Related with (1), is there a limit in the number of columns in
> Gretl's spreadsheet? We know that excel, openoffiice and gnumeric have
> a limit of 255 columns. This may be more than enough for everyday
> tasks but not always for research. Of course one can use other
> specialized software such as dbase but it would be more efficient to
> be able to use the one already available in Gretl especially since it
> doesn't look like a memory hog like the others.
> (3)-Of course we need the ability to do some basic mathematical and
> logical operations within cells so that we can easily define new data
> columns. I know we can use the console or the data menu to add new
> variables such as logs, dummies and lags based on existing variables
> but this is not enough.
> Consider a simple command that can be used in other spreadsheets:
> "=IF(AND(A1=1,B1=1),LOG(C1),"na")"
> This command creates a new variable based on 3 existing variables very
> easily and efficiently. I am not sure how I can achieve this in Gretl
> but if it requires writing a program or a loop, this is counter
> intuitive.
> (4)- And as always new features have to be implemented very
> efficiently using very optimized routines so that Gretl doesn't become
> a memory hog like many other commercial (and sometimes open source)
> programs.
>
> With all this functionality fit into such a small package, Gretl
> already speaks for how open source software are usually much better
> and efficient than commercial alternatives. If new features are added
> in this fashion it is easy to predict that soon we will have a program
> that has all the functionalty of expensive software and in a much
> smaller package, which represents a much higher level of quality and
> elegance. This would be very welcome within the economics profession,
> since we are becoming more and more dependent on specialized software
> to carry out our research.
>
> Sincerely,
> A. Talha YALTA
>
> --
> Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you
> nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain
> --
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Allin Cottrell <cottrell at wfu.edu>
> To: Gretl list <gretl-users at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu>
> Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 21:51:04 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [Gretl-users] GRETL Feature Suggestion
> On Tue, 2 May 2006, Talha Yalta wrote:
>
> > I am a Ph.D. candidate at Fordham University in NY and I am
> > using Gretl extensively for a few months now. I am a big fan of
> > linux and open source software and I must say I am very
> > impressed with Gretl. I would like to thank all the contributors
> > for bringing us this elegant and very high quality software
> > which is a pure joy to use.
>
> Thank you, glad you like the program!
>
> > I would also like to suggest a few new features:
> >
> > I usually work with PSID data that contains more than 200
> > columns and 30000 rows and I need to create a number of dummies
> > and bring the sample to a more manageble size (say 4000
> > observations)...
> >
> > Now, I know that Gretl has a built in spreadsheet and it looks
> > like it is quite efficient. So I think it would be a great idea
> > to improve this feature a little bit:
> >
> > (1)- First of all, when I try to open my data in spreadsheet
> > mode I get an error message saying that I cannot open
> > spreadsheet that has more than 1600 rows.
>
> This limitation is specific to the Windows version of gretl, and
> it stems from the gui toolkit (GTK+) that gretl uses.  For some
> obscure reason, connected I think with support for Windows 98, the
> sort of GTK window that gretl uses for its built-in spreadsheet
> can't currently have more than about 1600 rows without falling
> apart, on the MS Windows platform.
>
> > (2)- Related with (1), is there a limit in the number of columns
> > in Gretl's spreadsheet?
>
> Not that I know of, but there may be a de facto limit for that
> sort of GTK window on MS Windows, again.
>
> > (3)-Of course we need the ability to do some basic mathematical and
> > logical operations within cells so that we can easily define new data
> > columns. I know we can use the console or the data menu to add new
> > variables such as logs, dummies and lags based on existing variables
> > but this is not enough.
> > Consider a simple command that can be used in other spreadsheets:
> > "=IF(AND(A1=1,B1=1),LOG(C1),"na")"
>
> Gretl, along with most other econometrics programs, defines such
> transformations using named variables rather than cell-ranges.
> You have the boolean operators (&,|,=,!) to work with (see the
> entry for "genr" in the gretl manual).  For example, assuming that
> variables named 'A', 'B' and 'C' already exist:
>
> newvar = (A=1&B=1)*log(C) + !(A=1&B=1)*NA
>
> This sort of variable-generating command can be executed using a
> script, via the gretl console, or using the dialog box for
> "defining a new variable" at the foot of the Variable menu.
>
> For this reason -- and also because gretl can import Excel and
> Gnumeric worksheets (with an OpenOffice import facility not too
> far off), so you can do data transformations using your favorite
> spreadsheet if you prefer that method -- it's not a high priority
> to offer a formula facility in gretl's built-in spreadsheet.
> This feature is really intended for data entry or minor editing of
> an existing dataset.
>
> Allin Cottrell
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Zhukov Pavel <zeus at hovel.ru>
> To: gretl-users at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu
> Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 16:19:51 +0400
> Subject: [Gretl-users] homogeneity
> Does gretl contains a homogeneity test?
> Does gretl contains Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality?
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Claudio Puty" <cputy at ufpa.br>
> To: <gretl-users at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu>
> Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 09:42:40 -0300
> Subject: [Gretl-users] Gretl in Portuguese
>
>
>
> Dear members of the list,
>
>
>
> I am an economics professor at the Federal University of Para in
> Belém/Brazil (www.ufpa.br). We have a group of people in my department who
> are very interested in using Gretl in our Linux labs for undergraduate
> teaching.
>
> I was very happy to know that Gretl has now a Portuguese version, which will
> help popularize it in Brazil. However, I am still having trouble setting it
> up in Portuguese on my Windows PC. I have followed every step in Gretl's
> support page and I have successfully managed to shift into Italian, French
> and Spanish by using the command " set LANG=es (pt, fr, etc)" in the ms/dos
> simulator. Am I missing something?
>
>
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Claudio Puty
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
> Cláudio Castelo Branco Puty
>
> Professor Adjunto
>
> Departamento de Economia
>
> Universidade Federal do Pará
>
> Rua Augusto Corrêa,  nº 1
>  Belém-Pará
>
> 66.075-110
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Gretl-users at ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu
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>
>
>


--
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you
nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain
--