Kirill Orlov: I will take tea or coffee to my PC. I have one cup of coffee in bed in the morning.

King Douglas: Do you participate in sports or exercise?

Kirill Orlov: I’ve exercised almost all my life, but not strictly every day. I do yoga exercises, or should I say exercises for improving flexibility…to keep myself lean and flexible. I do my exercises seriously.

King Douglas: At what hour of the day do you do your best work?

Kirill Orlov: It could be different. If the work goes well, I don’t look at the clock. Recently, for example, when I was processing some interesting data, I found that I had been working for 19 hours. I think, generally, that night is best, but that is not a rule. I have no fixed hours. I like to sleep at least nine hours, but my sleeping time does not depend on the time of day.

King Douglas: At what time of the day do you prefer to tackle difficult programming challenges?

Kirill Orlov: No fixed time. If I’m short of time and have to do something for somebody else, I like to start as early as possible. And if I work for myself I try to catch a moment when I sense that the possibility to move farther is still here but the hope to arrive at the ultimate goal is already gone: just crack inspiration into coke and dross [note: "crack," "coke" and "dross" are metal refining terms used in this Russian figure of speech meaning, roughly, "separate the wheat from the chaff," or "set your priorities"]

King Douglas: Among experts, there is consensus that it is important to learn and use syntax. Why is that the case when SPSS makes it possible for the user to do most things via point and click?

Kirill Orlov: It saves time and you can use options that are covered in syntax only. You can repeat your task accurately because you can save your syntax. When you write syntax, you are telling a story. It is a sort of creativity. Code lines are like poetry lines. Repeating command names look like anaphoric verse [the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses]. But sometimes I’m so tired of writing syntax that I long to press buttons, so I do it. [Smile]

King Douglas: Then what do you think about the fact that the extensive, menu-driven GUI provided by SPSS makes possible what some call, “instant statisticians”?

Kirill Orlov: This is absolutely wrong. Unlike some other programs, like Statistica, SPSS is like an iceberg. Many options are covered only in syntax, so you cannot become an instant statistician with SPSS. Or you could become a bad instant statistician.