It seems easiest to approach this matter from the individual user’s point of view–to see what he would like to have, what he might like to do, and then to try to figure out how to make a system within which his requirements can be met. Among the things I see that a user might want to have, or to do, are the following:

(Let me suppose that I am sitting at a console that includes a cathode-ray-tube display, light-pen, and a typewriter.) I want to retrieve a set of experimental data that is on a tape called Listening Test. The data are called “experiment 3.” These data are basically percent- ages for various signal-to-noise ratios. There are many such empirical functions. The experiment had a matrix design, with several listeners, several modes of presentation, several signal frequencies, and several durations.