Introduction
Mstat was developed to provide a simple approach to analyzing data using nonparametric statistical methods. This program grew out of a graduate course, Statistical Problems in Genetics and Molecular Biology, developed by myself (Norman Drinkwater, Department of Oncology) and two colleagues in the Department of Genetics, Bill Engels and Carter Denniston, and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the last 30 years. An HTML version of the notes for the course is accessible from the program's help file (see Statistics Notes at the left).
Mstat was written in J (Version 901), an Array Programming Language developed by Jsoftware, Inc. Windows, macOS, and Linux versions of Mstat are distributed as standalone applications and require the appropriate J runtime executable (which is provided as part of the Mstat package). Both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the software are available for Windows and Linux; the current MacOS version is only available for 64-bit processors. System requirements and minor differences between the platforms are detailed below in Platform Specifics.
Version 6.x was a major rewrite of Mstat, based on using the Qt toolkit for the user interface. This change improved integration with the operating system across all three platforms, eliminated the requirement for Java on macOS and Linux, and allowed us to provide a 64-bit version for macOS. The most significant functional changes were the inclusion of methods to adjust p-values and compute false discovery rates in the case of multiple comparisons, improved handling of utf text files, and several new plots. Version 7.x focuses on refactoring the software to conform to the greater security requirements of macOS Catalina (10.15). Other improvements include drag and drop selection and ordering of samples, a new ordered bar chart, and Bayesian estimation of predictive values. Further details are available on the Version History page of the Mstat website.
To be kept apprised of updates to Mstat, send an email to norman.drinkwater@wisc.edu that includes the version you are using (available in the About box under the Help menu). You can also check the website at http://oncology.wisc.edu/mstat.