rube-package {rube}R Documentation

Really Useful WinBugs Enhancer

Description

The rube package has a wrapper for R2WinBugs bugs() function that implements useful model specification enhancements to allow maintenance of a single, simple model specification file per project. This is accomplished through conditional coding (IFCASE), overridable defaults for hyperparameters, and pseudofunctions that implement on-the-fly linear combinations (LC) of data and parameters with corresponding generation of needed hyperprior distributions (FOR). Also included are a powerful syntax checker which gives specific information on incorrect model specification, and which optionally gives a highly useful summary of the relationships between model, data and initializations. Several plot functions for exploration of priors and posteriors are also included. This include the ability to add parameters that are compuatable from other parameters without having to re-run the model. Also, models may be stored in plain text in R files if desired.

Details

The syntax checker (rube:::bugsCheck()) is normally called by rube() rather than directly. If rube() is called with the default NULL value of 'parameters.to.save', then only the bugs check is performed, and WinBUGS is not called. This is useful both before and after setting up data and initializations, as well as before and after using rube to run the model through WinBUGS.

The rube() function is a wrapper for bugs() that implements the defaults, conditional codings, and pseudofunctions. The model() convenience function also implements these. The check() function reports the model checking result on any rube result. The showDefaults() convenience function is a first step in prior sensitivity testing.

Some prior exploration function will be added to this package soon.

The p3() functions interactively explores the basic characteristics of the posterior. The pripost() function compares priors to posteriors.

Author(s)

Howard J. Seltman <hseltman@stat.cmu.edu>

References

http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~hseltman/rube

See Also

rube, model, check, showDefaults, p3, check, priPost


[Package rube version 0.3-11 Index]