Welcome to LazStats
Created by Bill Miller
With Assists by Chris Rordin and
Eugenio Cervesato
July 27, 2010
Theoretically, once a program is written with Lazarus, it can be compiled for other operating systems. If you would like to participate in compiling versions for systems other than Windows, We would appreciate your participation. You can forward the programs to me and I will post them with credits. There are .zip files that can be downloaded. One labeled LAZSTATSWIN.zip contains the Windows LazStats program. Another zip file contains data and a third contains an HTML file and a group of .pdf files that make up the help files for LazStats. Unlike many Windows programs that use .HLP files, LazStats uses the Internet Browser and Adobe Acrobat to display help files. These help files should be saved in a folder labeled ‘html’ since LazStats will look for that folder when it starts your browser. It should find the file ‘LAZTOC.html’ in your html folder. It is assumed your browser can also open Adobe .pdf files since the LAZTOC.html file lists help sections that are all .pdf files.
The zip file labeled LAZSTATSWIN.zip contains the Windows version of LazStats.
The INNO file labeled LazStatsSetup contains the Windows version of LazStats plus creates the html directory and a datafiles directory.
The zip file labeled LAZSTATSLX32.zip contains the 32 bit Linux version of LazStats.
The zip file labeled LAZSTATSLX32SRC.zip contains the source code for the 32 bit Linux version
The zip file labeled LAZSTATSLX64.zip contains the 64 bit Linux version of LazStats.
The zip file labeled LAZSTATSLX64SRC.zip contains the 64 bit Lazarus source code for Linux.
Windows users will want to unzip the data and help files to the same directory on your computer where you place the program. I recommend creating a new directory with a name like "LazStatsRun". If you are a programmer, you can unzip the source file and try to compile it with your downloaded version of Lazurus.
UPDATES:
Both versions have been updated with several changes. First, when LazStats starts, the variable definitions window appears first. Click the OK button to accept the definition of the first variable or add additional variables and change the variable names, types, etc. for any new data and then click the OK button. In addition to the above change, there is a new "tools" option to convert the decimal separator value from the English (.) to the European (,) or vice-versa. This permits you to convert and save a file written for English or European use to the other type. Factor Analysis now includes the KMO statistic for estimating the Measure of Sampling Adequacy. There is now a 64 bit Linux version (and source code) of LazStats.Download Links:
LAZSTATSWIN.zip (version July 23, 2010)
LazStatsSetup.exe (INNO setup for Windows, version July 23, 2010)
LAZHELP.ZIP (Contains files that need to be placed in a sub-directory labeled html within the directory where you store LazStats)
LazStatsSrc.zip (version July 23, 2010 for Windows)
LAZSTATSLX32.zip (version July 23, 2010 for Linux)
LAZSTATSLX32SRC.zip (source code for Linux version July 23, 2010)
LAZSTATSLX64.zip (version July 6, 2010 for 64 bit Linux)
LAZSTATSLX64SRC.zip (version July 6, 2010 source code for 64 bit Linux)
For Linux users interested in an older version written with the Borland Kylix compiler, copy the following file to your home page and unzip it there:
Some comments on "Free" software:
I applaud the creators of Lazarus to try and resurrect the previous Borland Delphi and Kylix compilers. The Windows version is relatively friendly with folders visible to the user and code relatively compatible to Delphi code with a few exceptions. The Linux version is another story. Files are buried in multiple locations, some of which are hidden files (those starting with a period (.). In addition, it is case sensitive (a problem which could have been addressed when creating a Windows version.) In addition, when one selects the Options -> Directories it is not clear what the path values should be for the various empty entries. It would have been nice if those had been completed when one installs Lazarus! Forget clicking on the help icon. You have to search through a myriad of documents that have to be downloaded and even then you probably will not find what your looking for. I think the problem is Linux itself. There are multiple versions of Linux (e.g. Suse, Ubuntu, etc.) and each of these has multiple versions. It is not hard to understand why Kylix bit the dust since it depended on the gcc compiler and the QT system which were frequently changed. The printer support for Linux is sadly lacking, probably due to the fact that printer manufacturers only seem to produce drivers for Microsoft products. For example, my Canon MP240 printer is not supported. This makes it really difficult to test printing in a Lazarus program. The above Linux version of LazStats wouldn’t print so I either copied text and pasted it into the gedit program to print or saved it in a file and imported the file into OpenOffice to print. You may have to do the same! In Linux, one still has to resort to the "terminal" window (similar to a Microsoft DOS window) in order to examine folders and find (if lucky) a particular file or subfolder. A 75 year-old like me with limited programming experience is not going to spend hours like that! My old Borland C++ Development package 5.0 still works fine on Windows and that is why OpenStat is written in that language (and compatible to Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista.) I can’t say anything about versions of Lazarus for the MacIntosh or other operating systems since I don’t have those. Maybe you do and would like to try your hand at it. I’ve appreciated the help of both Chris and Eugenio for there support and advice.