[R] BUGS and OS X

[Jari Oksanen]

On Wed, 2004-09-15 at 21:29, Tamas K Papp wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 15, 2004 at 02:21:18PM -0400, Liaw, Andy wrote:
> > That's more of a question for the BUGS developers.  BUGS is not open
source,
> > so whatever binary is provided, that's all you can use.  If I'm not
> > mistaken, WinBUGS is the only version under development.
> 
> I found something called JAGS, and I am still exploring it.  It
> appears to be an open-source BUGS replacement, thought with
> limitations.
> 
MacOS X is a kind of unix (where the emphasis is on the "kind of"), so
you can get and compile any source code developed for unix -- with some
luck. One alternative is Bassist available at
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/research/fdk/bassist/. I just tried and found
out that you can compile and install it in MacOS X in the usual way
(./configure && make && sudo make install). That's all I can say about
it. It may not be easiest to use. The current version seems to be a bit
oldish and not quite complete, but somebody claimed that they may start
developing Bassist again. Actually, Bob O'Hara (who usually calls
himself "Anon." in this list) should know more, and hopefully this
message will prompt him to tell us, too.

> I was asking what software people would recommend for the same
> functionality, not a drop-in replacement.  I am just baffled by the
> bewildering array of R packages, and would be so happy if somebody
> told me what THEY use for Bayesian analysis, so I could read the docs
> and get started.  MCMC? Boa? etc.  Suggestions on how experienced
> users do bayesian analysis in R would be welcome.
> 
You need a guru to guide you. That's the holy tradition in Bayesianism.

cheers, jari oksanen
-- 
Jari Oksanen <jarioksa at sun3.oulu.fi>