the bureau of labor statistic's table producing language (tpl)
A national statistical agency such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics usually produces the results of its surveys in tabular form at the cost of a substantial portion of its data processing resources. The tables are often quite complex with common requirements for cross tabulation of irregular patterns of hierarchical data files with many intermediate levels of summarization, percentage distributions, measures of statistical precision, and intricate publication formats. The T able P roducing L anguage (TPL) has been designed and implemented as a general tool for producing statistical tables. The syntax of the language allows the user to construct expressions representing the desired tables and auxiliary operations. The expressions are problem oriented, nonprocedural, compact, and written with English-like nomenclature. Together with a Codebook, they allow the specification of complex data reduction, cross tabulation, and table generation operations. Users may be research economists, statisticians and other social scientists who need not have experience with conventional computer programming languages, as well as computer oriented staff concerned with production tasks.
language cross tabulation hierarchical data files statistical tables problem oriented nonprocedural