Statistical Computing and Computer Languages

Summary The activities of the Working Party on Statistical Computing are discussed under two headings. (1) The Algorithm Section of Applied Statistics; problems of algorithm construction and testing are described, and illustrated by the formation of a sums‐of‐squares‐and‐products matrix from a data matrix. (2) Data structures; the possibility for the statistical programmer of defining and operating upon data structures relevant to statistics is not met by commonly available languages. The impending arrival of extensible languages should avoid the need for statisticians to implement special statistical languages, but increases the need for them to standardize their data structures if programs are to be easily used and transferred.