Survival Kit, software/Before you begin
First you should download the source codes, compiled executable files, support programs, examples and manual from boku.ac.at. Everything is for free, programs are open source.
What's new in v6.0?[edit | edit source]
The new version of the Survival Kit is updated to Fortran90, extensively using its memory allocation capacities. This means that when changing some key parameters related to the database size (number of effects, number of elementary records, etc.) recompilation is no longer needed. One can change these parameters via new keywords. Executable files are currently supplied for Windows computers.
The names of the parameter files were changed to make the program more user friendly.
- The parameter file name for PREPARE was changed from *.par to prepare.txt
- The name of the file holding the list of variables was changed from *.paa to varlist.txt
- The parameter file name for COX was changed from *.cox to cox.txt
- The parameter file name for WEIBULL was changed from *.wei to weibull.txt
IMPORTANT: These file names are set as defaults in the Survival Kit v6.0, to minimize typing. Due to these changes you are obliged to use these names in your runs, unless you change them in the source code and recompile the programs. Note: If you are a novice user - stick to the default names.
Data and parameter files[edit | edit source]
Survival Kit uses text input files. You should not use "tab" in the text files while this is not supported by the Kit, and may lead to a non-specific error messages.
Data files
Data files should consist only from numbers and spaces. No characters allowed. In case of time dependent effects a special data structure should be used including the so called "triplets". This may require additional experience in database preparation step.
Parameter files
Parameter files include the description of the data files for PREPARE program (default file name: prepare.txt) or model description for COX (default file name: cox.txt) and WEIBULL (default file name: weibull.txt). In these you use keywords described in the manual.
Every line should end with a semicolon. Length of lines is limited to approx. 150 characters, so if you have longer lines, you should brake them into multiple lines (just hit "Enter"). Note: You should use shorter lines (approx. 70-80 characters) to increase readability.
In the parameter files you can use comment lines beginning with "/*" and ending with "*/" i.e.
/* This is a comment here... */