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The Syntax of JudgeIt Command Files

The following rules govern the syntax of command files:

1. JudgeIt treats commands entered in UPPER, lower, or MiXeD case in the same manner, so case is not significant. (We use upper case in this manual to distinguish command names, but these need not be in upper case.)

2. All JudgeIt commands begin with a keyword (such as XVARS, STATS, SUM, etc.) and end in a semicolon. They also may have a number of other words or numbers. For example: SVCURVE PLOT;

3. Spaces, commas, or carriage returns delimit the different terms within commands, and may also be used between commands. You may have as many of these as you like. We encourage you to use them to make your command file look tidy, so that it will be easier for you to follow. Each command can be spread out over several lines, can be entirely on one line, or can share the same line with other commands.

4. Anything in a JudgeIt command file surrounded by @ signs will be ignored, so you may leave reminders of what you have programmed in your file. For example: SVCURVE PLOT; @ this command plots the seats votes curve @. This function also allows you to prevent JudgeIt from implementing a command, while leaving it as text within your program for later use. For example: SVCURVE @ PLOT @ LIST;, which is equivalent to SVCURVE LIST;.

After running your ATOG command file to transform data into Gauss format (see Section 6), one way to check whether you succeeded is with the STATS command. For example, if the name of your Gauss dataset is congdata, then enter the following command into your JudgeIt command file: STATS $<$ congdata; and run it (by saving the file, and typing JudgeIt congdata at the DOS prompt). This will give you descriptive statistics calculated from the variables in your Gauss dataset. If the output reports implausible values, then you may have done something wrong in creating your ASCII text file or in translating it to Gauss format. You also might wish to get a complete listing of the contents of your dataset by typing: STATS $<$ congdata LIST;. If STATS indicated that you correctly converted your data to Gauss format, then you are ready for more serious analyses.