It is generally acknowledged that the most important changes in statistics
in the last 50 years are driven by technology. More specifically, by the
development and universal availability of fast computers and of devices to
collect and store ever-increasing amounts of data. Satellite remote sensing,
large-scale sensor networks, continuous environmental monitoring, medical
imaging, micro-arrays, the various genomes, and computerized surveys
have not just created a need for new statistical techniques. These new forms
of massive data collection also require efficient implementation of these
new techniques in software. Thus development of statistical software has
become more and more important in the last decades.