TPL Tables

Key takeaways

TPL Tables belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect TPL Tables to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of TPL Tables from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TPL Tables is a cross tabulation system used to generate statistical tables for analysis or publication.

Background / history TPL Tables has its roots in the Table Producing Language (TPL) system, developed at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the 1970s and early 1980s to run on IBM mainframes. It was one of the first software languages that was task oriented rather than procedure oriented. To create a table in TPL, the user needed to specify his data and describe what his table should look like. He did not need to write procedures to create the table. This was in sharp contrast to the Cobol and PL/1 programs people were using at BLS to create tables before TPL. When statistical offices began moving to databases, TPL extended its non-procedural model to database access [1] The mainframe software gained international popularity during its time, particularly in government statistical offices, but at a substantial number of other sites as well. The BLS version of TPL was distributed by the United Nations. When TPL evolved into a commercial product, the UN connections remained. This led to such diverse customers as the census of the Comoros Islands [Population 600,000] and the census of the People's Republic of China [Population > 1,000,000,000] BLS ceased major software development of the software in the early to mid-1980s. At that time, two developers of the mainframe product founded QQQ Software, Inc. [2] and began development of TPL Tables, rewriting the system for PCs and Unix systems. The first version of TPL Tables was released in 1987. The current version is 7.0.

Uses TPL Tables is used with many different types of data, from small surveys or other datasets to national level censuses. Its many formatting features allow creation of publication quality output that can be published on paper or on the web.

Text or interactive mode TPL Tables has a language for specifying tabulations and controlling format details. This language is the same for both Windows and Unix versions of the software. The Windows version also has an interactive interface that can access most features and includes Ted, an editor used to display PostScript tables on the screen and edit them interactively.

Tabulation Features TPL Tables can process an unlimited amount of data and produce tables that range in size from a few lines to hundreds of pages. Subsets of the data can be selected and new variables can be computed from incoming data or from tabulated values. Alternate computations can be performed depending on specified conditions being met. New variables can also be defined by recoding or grouping values of other variables. Table rows can be ordered (ranked) according to the values in a selected column. Other computational features include percent distributions, maximums, minimums, medians and other quantiles. Weighted values can be tabulated.

Inputs TPL Tables can read files with data in fixed columns or delimited file types such as CSV Comma Separated Values . TPL-SQL, an optional add-on feature, provides direct access from TPL Tables to SQL databases produced by products such as Sybase and Oracle. In the Windows version, TPL-SQL can access databases for which there are ODBC drivers.

Outputs TPL Tables automatically formats table output according to the table specification, available names and labels, and default settings. Tables can be created in PostScript or as text. Additional format features allow control of such things as page size, table orientation and column widths Rows or columns can be deleted, and labels and titles can be replaced. Display formats for data values can include alignment specifications and addition of special characters such as % and $. Footnotes can be included for both labels and data values. PostScript tables can contain proportional fonts in various styles and sizes.

Exports Tables can be exported as PDF, HTML, or CSV. The Windows version also allows tables to be exported for use as input to PC-Axis [3].

Notes

External links Home page for QQQ Software, Inc. and TPL Tables [4] QQQ Software, Inc. download page [5]. Contains various documentation files, including the TPL Tables, Version 7.0 User Manual in PDF format.

References Mendelssohn, Rudolph C., The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Table Producing Language (TPL), ACM Press, New York, NY, 1974 Survey Data Processing: A Review of Issues and Procedures, United Nations Department of Technical Co-operation for Development and Statistical Office, New York, 1982

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with TPL Tables

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what TPL Tables claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to TPL Tables before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about TPL Tables ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of TPL Tables

In research: TPL Tables appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses TPL Tables in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: TPL Tables is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Statistical software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for TPL Tables outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study TPL Tables in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what TPL Tables means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain TPL Tables out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is TPL Tables in simple terms?

TPL Tables is a cross tabulation system used to generate statistical tables for analysis or publication. Background / history TPL Tables has its roots in the Table Producing Language (TPL) system, developed at the U.S.

Why does TPL Tables matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study TPL Tables?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on TPL Tables.