[B/D] Reference Manual - Version 8.44

David Wooff
University of Durham

[B/D] Home Page: http://fourier.dur.ac.uk:8000/stats/bd/

• Contents
• Installation and interface
  • Overview
    • Installing the WINDOWS version
      • Starting the program
    • Installing the UNIX version
      • Starting the program
  • Stopping the program
  • Associating files and search paths with the program at start-up
    • Overview
    • Attaching input files
    • Attaching output files
    • Updating search paths
  • The [B/D] input interface
    • Command lines
    • Line parsing
    • Multiple lines
  • Line Continuations
    • Miscellaneous information
• Subroutines and external files
  • Overview
    • Subroutines and diversions
    • Handling errors that arise during processing of a subroutine
  • Linking external files to [B/D]
  • Removing links to external files
  • Re-initialising macro handling
  • Defining export channels
  • Unconditionally switching program flow
  • Temporarily diverting program flow to subroutines
  • Redirecting output
  • User-defined error handling
  • Defining additional search paths
  • Updating shared external files
  • Returning from subroutines
• Commands controlling program flow
  • Looping with a control variable
    • General remarks
  • Conditional statements
    • Other remarks
  • Looping until a condition is satisfied
    • Other remarks
  • Looping while a condition is satisfied
    • Other remarks
• Strings
  • Defining strings
  • Using strings
    • Inserting strings
    • Substrings
  • Testing strings
  • Inputting strings interactively
  • Deleting strings
• The command history
  • Introduction
  • Viewing and replaying the command history
  • Deleting items from the command history
• Generating beliefs
  • Introduction
  • Abbreviations for constructing collections
    • Wildcards
    • Abbreviated notation for bases and elements
    • Base exclusion
    • Abbreviating collections of data-carrying elements
  • Functional forms and indices
    • Modified indices
  • Declaring and using linear combinations
    • Overview
    • Declaring assignments
    • Examples
    • Using assignments
    • Recursion in assignments
    • Deleting assignments
  • Defining and using collections
    • Overview
    • Declaring bases
    • Other remarks
    • Deleting bases
  • Declaring and using elements
    • Overview
    • Alternative expectation stores
    • Using elements to represent exchangeable sequences
    • Declaring elements
    • Changing expectations
  • Declaring expectations for an explicit expectation store
    • Overview
    • Declaring single expectations
    • Direct numerical specification of alternative expectations
    • Deleting elements
  • Declaring variances and covariances numerically
    • Overview
    • Declaring single covariances
    • Constructing variance matrices from other variance matrices
    • Direct numerical specification of variance matrices
    • Problems of asymmetry
  • Functional belief specifications
    • An introduction to components
    • Declaring functional variances and covariances
    • Deleting functionally specified variances and covariances
    • Declaring functional expectations
    • Deleting functionally specified expectations
  • Constructing beliefs from products of quantities
  • Related commands
    • Forming covariances from beliefs expressed as cross-products
    • Locking and unlocking belief storage areas
    • Locking and unlocking expectation storage areas
  • Generating beliefs automatically from sample covariances
  • Constructing new elements from old
    • Example
    • Attaching data to the constructed element
  • Generating many quantities together
    • Overview
    • Setting regular index ranges
    • Setting irregular index ranges
    • Deleting index ranges
    • Multivariate construction
    • Examples
• Constants and functions
  • Introduction
  • Defining constants
  • Defining functions
  • Deleting constants
  • Deleting functions
• Using data
  • Overview
    • Missing values
  • Reading data
    • Formatting the data for reading
    • Example
  • Defining single observations
  • Constructing data over many cases
    • Introductory example
    • Constructing data from other data
    • Constructing data for a range of cases
    • Generating vectors of random numbers
    • Remarks
  • Manual data selection
    • Examples
  • Summarising data
  • Efficient usage of patterned data
  • Deleting data
• Adjustment commands
  • Adjusting one collection by another
    • Overview
    • Preparing adjustments
    • Simple adjustments
    • Partial adjustments
    • Partial adjustments - withdrawing bases
  • Displaying the results of an adjustment
    • Overview
    • Displaying the results of an adjustment interactively
    • Redisplaying the results of an adjustment
  • Iterative adjustment
  • Assessing potential adjustments
    • Scanning the effect of a basic adjustment
    • Scanning the effect of a partial adjustment
    • Scanning the effect of withdrawing information
  • Comparing alternative variance specifications
• Miscellaneous graphics commands
  • Clearing graphics screens
  • Writing text to the graphics screen
  • Printing high resolution graphics
    • Printing for the Windows version
    • Printing for the UNIX version
• Influence diagrams
  • Introduction
  • Drawing influence diagrams during adjustments
    • Drawing one influence diagram per adjustment
    • Using colours to track information
    • Superimposing influence diagrams
  • Arc influences and diagnostics
    • Accessing arc labelling information
  • Designing and testing influence diagrams
    • Designing the influence diagram
    • Testing the design overall
    • Defining specific nodes
    • Defining specific arcs
  • Drawing arcs between nodes directly
  • Drawing arcs between nodes directly
    • Removing nodes and arcs
  • Producing canonical wheels
    • Overview
    • Graphic assessments of adjustments via canonical quantities
  • Defining titles for influence diagrams
• Partial correlation and belief comparison diagrams
  • Partial correlation diagrams
    • Overview
    • Producing the diagram
  • Defining titles for partial correlation diagrams
  • Belief comparison diagrams
    • Overview
    • Producing the diagram
    • Example
• Miscellaneous numerical commands
  • Checking the coherence of belief specifications
  • Eigendecomposition of a real symmetric matrix
    • Viewing and retaining the eigenstructure
  • Calculating Moore-Penrose generalised inverses
  • Multiplying beliefs together
• General commands
  • Saving and restoring sessions
    • Restore beliefs and data
    • Save beliefs and data
  • Repeat last command
  • Partially restarting the program
  • Exporting data and beliefs
    • Exporting data
    • Exporting element names
    • Exporting element expectations
    • Exporting element names and expectations
    • Exporting beliefs
  • Pausing during output
  • Displaying other output
  • Fully restarting the program
  • Initialising random number generation
  • Terminating the program
• Examining inputs to the program
  • Introduction
  • Possible arguments
• Exchangeable sequences
  • Introduction
  • Exploiting exchangeability
  • Organising exchangeable adjustments
    • Source of variances and covariances required
    • Choosing the initial sample size
  • Determining sample sizes to guarantee variance reductions
  • Exploring the effects of changing sample sizes
• Plotting data
  • Labelling plots
  • Low resolution plots
  • High resolution plots
  • Defining titles for plots
• Interactively retaining output
  • Introduction
  • Retaining output from an iterative adjustment
  • Retaining from standard adjustments
  • Recording input and output
  • Other retentions
• Output options
  • Introduction
  • Setting options
  • Accessing the results of adjustments and partial adjustments
  • Accessing the results of observed adjustments and partial adjustments
  • Plotting options
  • Miscellaneous options
• Controls
  • Setting controls
  • Controls affecting default expectation and belief stores
  • Controls affecting exchangeable adjustments
  • Data controls
  • Storing adjusted covariances and expectations
  • Belief sourcing and storage for adjustments
  • Numeric output formatting controls
  • Plot controls
  • Controls for influence diagrams
  • Controls for canonical wheel diagrams
  • Controls for partial correlation results
  • Controlling the size of the graphics window
  • Miscellaneous controls
  • Controls affecting belief comparisons and comparison diagrams
• [B/D] operands and operators
  • General remarks
  • Binary operators
  • Accessing the results of an adjustment
  • Accessing results available when expoiting exchangeability
  • Accessing the results of a partial adjustment
  • Accessing the results of a scan
  • Accessing potentials for adjustments
  • Accessing belief sources used for adjustments
  • Standard arithmetic operators
  • Data functions
  • String-handling functions
  • Accessing eigenvalue results
  • Accessing belief inputs
  • Random number generators
  • Other operators and operands
• Glossary
• References
• Index
• About this document ...