DIST-GEN: Generate values for state variables from the prior.
Dist-gen can be used to sample from the prior distribution of a
Bayesian model. This capability can be used to initialize a Markov
chain sampler. Looking at a sample from the prior can also be of
interest in itself. Dist-gen cannot be used if the distribution
specification does not have the form of a Bayesian prior and
likelihood.
Usage:
dist-gen log-file [ max-index ]
Records of state variables with indexes from zero up to the indicated
index are generated by sampling from the prior. The default is
max-index of zero. If the log file already contains some such
records, only indexes greater than the last one in the log file are
generated.
Note that if the -read-prior option was given to dist-spec, the points
generated will be read from standard input. If -read-prior was not
given, the prior must be of a form allowing for automatic sampling.
See dist-spec.doc and dist-mc.doc for details.
Copyright (c) 1995-2003 by Radford M. Neal