[R-pkgs] new version of package "distr" available

[Peter Ruckdeschel]

We would like to announce the availability on CRAN of a new version (1.4)
of our package "distr" .
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Changes from 1.3 to 1.4
-To avoid name collisions with short forms for TRUE and FALSE: classes T
 and F (T- and F-distributions) renamed to Td and Fd
-The package is now loaded as a binary => considerable speed gain
-Using subsititute, the bodies of the r,d,p,q-function-slots
 distributions show the parameter values with which they were 
 generated
-Convolutions and applications of the math group may now be traced in
 r-slot of a distribution object, compare
              r(sin(Norm()) + cos(Unif() * 3 + 2))
-Parameters of a distribution (mean, sd, etc) are now tested on length 1
  *we see the objects as implementations of univariate distributions, so
   vectors  make  no sense here; rather one could gather several objects 
   with possibly different parameters to a vector of distributions.
   Of course, the original R-functions rnorm etc remain unchanged and
   still allow for vector-valued parameters.
  *
-Classes "Parameter" , "Distribution" , "UnivariateDistribution" are no
 longer VIRTUAL
-"AbscontParameter" and "DiscreteParameter" are replaced by "Parameter"
-Type of slots d,p,q  and param is changed to "OptionalFunction" and
 "OptionalParameter" respectively

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Short Description of "distr":
"distr" is to provide a conceptual treatment of random variables
(r.v.'s) by means of S4--classes. A virtual mother class "Distribution" 
is introduced.
All distributions of the "base" package are implemented as subclasses of
either "AbscontDistribution" or "DiscreteDistribution".

Using these classes, we also provide (default) methods to automatically
generate the image distributions under unary mathematical operations as
well as a general convolution algorithm.

Additionally, we also provide classes for a standardized treatment of
simulations (also under contaminations) and evaluations of statistical
procedures on such simulations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DESCRIPTION:

Package: distr
Version: 1.4
Date: 2004/09/23
Title: distr
Authors: Peter Ruckdeschel <peter.ruckdeschel at uni-bayreuth.de>,
Matthias Kohl <matthias.kohl at uni-bayreuth.de>,
Thomas Stabla <statho3 at web.de>,
Florian Camphausen <fcampi at gmx.de>
Maintainer: Peter Ruckdeschel <peter.ruckdeschel at uni-bayreuth.de>
Description: S4 Classes for Distributions
Depends: R (>= 1.9.0),  (versions for <=1.8.x, on URL cited below),
                setRNG (>= 2004.3-1)
License: GPL version 2 or later
URL: http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/math/org/mathe7/DISTR/

Reference:  
http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/math/org/mathe7/DISTR/distr.pdf

We look forward to receiving questions, comments and suggestions

Peter Ruckdeschel
Matthias Kohl
Thomas Stabla
Florian Camphausen