@c PSPP - a program for statistical analysis.
@c Copyright (C) 2017, 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
@c or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
@c with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
@c A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
@c Free Documentation License".
@c
@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction
@cindex introduction

@cindex @pspp{} language
@cindex language, @pspp{}
@pspp{} is a tool for statistical analysis of sampled data.
It reads the data, analyzes the data according to commands provided, and writes the results
to a listing file,  to the standard output or to a window of the graphical display.

The language accepted by @pspp{} is similar to those accepted by SPSS
statistical products.
The details of @pspp{}'s language are given later in this manual.

@cindex PostScript
@cindex PDF
@cindex HTML
@cindex DocBook
@pspp{} produces tables and charts as output, which it can produce in
several formats; currently, ASCII, PostScript, PDF, HTML, DocBook and @TeX{} are
supported.

The current version of @pspp{}, @value{VERSION}, is incomplete in
terms of its statistical procedure support.  @pspp{} is a work in progress.
The authors hope to fully support all features in the products
that @pspp{} replaces, eventually.  The authors welcome questions,
comments, donations, and code submissions.  @xref{Bugs,,Submitting Bug
Reports}, for instructions on contacting the authors.
