Pinktoe

Pinktoe is an R package that permits interactive traversal of a a rpart (or tree) object (e.g. classification and regression tree). The tree can be traversed within R using Tcl/Tk GUI widgets. Alternatively, a set of HTML/perl files can be created that enable traversal on a web site. HTML and perl files.

A quick example.

For an example of Pinktoe's capabilities first look at a picture of seven node tree generated by classifying early day motions (EDMs) using S tree methodology. Notice that each decision in the tree refers a given EDM, say EDM297 for the first decision. However, extra text is required to know what each EDM is, see the bottom of the page with the picture of the tree and see the titles of the relevant EDM.

Pinktoe automatically produced the set of web pages necessary to traverse the tree using web based questioning at this location. Here the decisions can be made by reading the text and then checking the box - all in one easy page!

Similar functionality can be obtained by using R and traversing a tree directly within R. More details can be found in the article that describes Pinktoe below.

Documentation

There is the usual documentation in the R package. There is also an article written about Pinktoe which is available in PDF or PostScript format.

Software.

Pinktoe Version 2.0 will soon be available from the CRAN archive so you can download and install it directly from within R as usual. However, until then we provide the software here also:

pinktoe_2.0.zip: For Windows. A Zip file of the Pinktoe package. Save the ZIPPED file to a location and then use the menu item Packages and Install packages from local zip file(s) to install the package. And then once installed do Packages > Load packages ... and select pinktoe. Installation only need be done once. Loading has to be done every time R starts.
pinktoe_2.0.tar.gz: For other systems. Use install.packages and then library to use the code.

Why pinktoe?

A Pinktoe Tarantula is a kind of arboreal spider. The pinktoe software converts trees into web pages so we thought that naming the software after a spider that lives in trees was a nice idea!

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