Research on Automatic Classification, Indexing and Extracting: A General-Purpose Frequency Program.

To support studies in automatic indexing, classification and extracting, a general purpose frequency program was developed to further theoretical and practical understanding of text word distributions. While the program is primarily designed for counting strings of character-oriented data, it can be used without change for counting any items which can be represented in an integral number of characters. Counts may be obtained simultaneously at several levels of detail, such as for sentences, paragraphs, chapters and entire documents. Both printed outputs and outputs for further computer processing may be obtained, and a variety of summary and detailed outputs are available. The program, titled FRQNCY, is written in the Fortran IV language and was compiled and run on the IBM System/360 using Fortran IV (G) and the System/360 Operating System. It uses at least one feature of the IBM System/360 Fortran IV language (LOGICAL*1 and INTEGER*2 variables) which is not in USASI Fortran and hence may not compile or run under other Fortran systems. The program is extensively parametrized to allow its efficient use on computers with varying amounts of immediate-access storage and input/output equipment. The report is a complete writeup of the frequency program. It covers the purpose and usage of the program and also describes its organization and internal operation. Guidelines for modifying the program or adapting it to different computers are included. (Author)