Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 29 (2004) 205–259 205 IOS Press The evolution of econometric software design: A developer’s view Houston H. Stokes Department of Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 South Morgan Street, Room 2103, Chicago, IL 60607-7121, USA E-mail:
[email protected] In the last 30 years, changes in operating systems, computer hardware, compiler technology and the needs of research in applied econometrics have all influenced econometric software development and the environment of statistical computing. The evolution of various representative software systems, including B34S developed by the author, are used to illustrate differences in software design and the interrelation of a number of factors that influenced these choices. A list of desired econometric software features, software design goals and econometric programming language characteristics are suggested. It is stressed that there is no one “ideal” software system that will work effectively in all situations. System integration of statistical software provides a means by which capability can be leveraged. 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview The development of modern econometric software has been influenced by the changing needs of applied econometric research, the expanding capability of com- puter hardware (CPU speed, disk storage and memory), changes in the design and capability of compilers, and the availability of high-quality subroutine libraries. Soft- ware design in turn has itself impacted applied econometric research, which has seen its horizons expand rapidly in the last 30 years as new techniques of analysis became computationally possible. How some of these interrelationships have evolved over time is illustrated by a discussion of the evolution of the design and capability of the B34S Software system [55] which is contrasted to a selection of other software systems.