Re: PHYLIP tutorials for morphologists?

[Phillip Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:01:51 -0400 Nick <nick.gardner@gmail.com> writes:
> On 8/13/06, David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:
> > > I see that most PHYLIP tutorials are written for the "molecular 
> people".
> > > This is most frustrating.  Are there any tutorials available 
> on-line for
> > > "morphology people"?
> >
> > Don't bother, PHYLIP can't deal with unordered multistate 
> characters. Or
> > maybe ordered ones, I forgot.
> >
> >
> 
> Correct, its only real benefit is for beginners who want/need
> experience with cladistic analyses and aren't ready/able to shelf 
> out
> the funds for PAUP.


I'm not so sure about that.  Quite a few molecular people seem to like
using PHYLIP, and I have seen more than a couple published molecular
phylogeny papers that even admit to having used it.

Which begs the question:  Why is there no equivalent Open Source program
for morphologists?  No, it's not about "price".  Heck, PAUP for Windoze
costs only a little over $80, which is affordable to all but a few.  But
an Open Source PAUP-like program would probably make it more robust, and
new versions would probably come out more frequently.  Not to mention the
convenience of immediate download access.

<pb>
--
"If you are traveling into the future in a time machine, and you pass a
person from the future who is traveling into the past, it's probably a
good idea to avoid eye contact." - Jack Handey