[Download ZIP file of this tutorial]

Introduction

Vect can be used with virtually any text format generated from computational technologies. In addition to usefulness in arranging data, the Vect can calculate numbers.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to sum up the numbers. By setting rules, you can create your own Perl program.

First, go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office index website, ftp://ftp.uspto.gov/pub/patdata/2004, and save 04week01.rpt and 04week02.rpt onto your computer. That is in simple text format and has thousands of files that follow the same format. This type of data is suitable for running Vect.

After downloading the files, go to “File” on the main panel and select “open files” or click “Open” on the icon panel to load the data files, 04week01.rpt and 04week02.rpt.Your screen should look like the image below:

This tutorial is made up of 4 parts:
1)Selecting Data
2)Calculation
3)Organize Data
4)Perl Program