I apologize for possibly having created confusion. And possibly also this
comment is after the fact (I was off reading Statalist mails for a few days).
My note on the labjl.ado procedure
>> STB-59 dm84 . . . . . . . . . labjl: Adding numerical
>> 1/01 STB Reprints Vol 10, pages 35--37
Was just meant as a small supposedly helpful type of information for users
not having the need or financing at this point to get Stata 8.
My own policy for ado's of which I made several is:
1. Keep at my own site while still in development.
2. Stay at my own site if special and not thought of as sufficiently general.
3. Also stay at my own site if I am feeling the format is rather raw or crude
(e.g. not very elegantly written).
4. Propagate to SSC if exceeding point 1-3 and a general purpose is met.
5. IF I get the time write up for STB (Previously) or Stata Journal.
6. Only remove if I enhance the routine to a better one (e.g. clist.ado was
a direct enhancement to wlist.ado).
I agree with Nick that routines working correctly with a given Stata
version should not be removed. OFten other people need them at other times.
And if a purpose can be met with possibilities of an earlier Stata version
there is no need to update it.
As long as no nameconfusion exists addition of the same functionality in an
ado from STB SSC or user site to next release of Stata is no problem.
One of the very important strengths of Stata is the "eternal" license
policy. Many clinical colleagues have no need of the latest features (maybe
the new graphs in Stata 8), but ar e working with routines practically not
developed since version 5. Though usually they would prefer the never
versions because they never liked command prompts.
There is absolutely no need to remove old ado files unless they are
enhanced within the same Stata version. I use several ado's which have low
version numbers, e.g. pattern for finding missing values in combination of
variables. This was written for Stata 4 (I see now by "findit pattern" that
Jerome Wesee wrote a smarter one mvpatterns which is Stata 7). Typical of
Stata development the enhanced mvpatterns references in the help file the
former one.
Jens M. Lauritsen, Consultant,MD. PhD.
Accident Analysis Group, Odense University Hospital,
Odense, Denmark e-mail: [email protected]
Initiator of EpiData, see www.epidata.dk for DataEntry in windows (EpiInfo
V6 principle)
For news on Epidata, sign on at: www.epidata.dk/php/maillist.php
Phone +45 6541 2293 Mobile +45 2173 2293 fax: +45 6613 6581
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