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) 1998 by Radford M. Neal