Integrated data analysis and management for the problem solving environment

摘要

Large quantities of application oriented data (e.g. measurement data, planning data, etc.) have been accumulated or are still under development in science and industry. The detailed analysis and non-routine usage of such data collections by typical endusers (scientists, engineers, economists—with little or no programming skill and ambitions) has heavy demand for 1.—a powerful interactive language2.—a flexible data base management system3.—easy embedding of application specific programs4.—facilities for graphical data presentation5.—online usage-information on programs and data6.—application oriented description of data and programs The Integrated Data Analysis and Management System (IDAMS) which combines several components to satisfy all the above requirements has been largely implemented in APL. IDAMS offers access to data (managed by a data base system) and to programs (from a library of APL and non APL programs) with a simple but powerful query language. The attributes of data and programs are specified in a dictionary and their meaning is described in an information network of the interactive user guidance component.User guidance and adaptivity of the IDAMS interface to the user's skill are the key to easy and comfortable usage of IDAMS for problems solving by non DP professionals.