Herve STOLOWY
> I have a question concerning the command renvars.
>
> I have the Stata 8.2 version. In the search command, I find a
> reference
> to the renvars command (which shouold solve the problem I
> meet to rename
> several variables at the same time) but I can't find the help
> explanation and I don't know how to use it.
Richard Williams
> Doesn't seem to be at ssc. But, -findit renvars- produces
> 3 hits (2 of them apparently redundant), all of which seem to
> have help files. Not sure
> which is the most current version, but I'm guessing the dm88
> version that lists both Cox and Weesie as authors
>(the other version just lists Weesie).
Correct. The little story is this:
Independently Jeroen Weesie and I wrote renaming utilities.
Jeroen's was called -renvars- and a version remains on his website at
http://www.fss.uu.nl/soc/iscore/stata If you type
. type http://www.fss.uu.nl/soc/iscore/stata/renvars.ado
you will see a version number and date in the code,
namely, 2.2.1 15aug2000, and the fact that it requires
Stata version 6.
Mine was called -renames- and is still on SSC. Similarly
the code shows NJC 1.2.0 22 November 2000 and that it requires
Stata version 6.
Jeroen and I then got together and joined the programs; his name
took precedence. (All I can recall on that is that in retrospect
-renames- is too close to official -rename-.) This was then
published in STB-60 in 2001. If you type
. type http://www.stata.com/stb/stb60/dm88/renvars.ado
you will see that is 2.3.0 01feb2001 and requires version 7.
At the time, one good reason for leaving the earlier version(s)
in place was that there were still, potentially, users still
on version 6 to whom such code might be useful. This still applies, but
to a lesser extent. More generally, the purpose of an archive is to
store
programs and keep them available, not to assume that
users are only interested in the latest things.
> As a sidelight, it would be nice if all programs and sites had clearly
> labeled distribution dates or version numbers or whatever. Without
them,
> is there a straightforward way to tell which is the latest and
greatest
> that I'm not aware of?
I believe that this precept is satisfied by the code. The write-up
of -renvars- in STB-60 suppressed this not very interesting explanation,
but a little detective work makes all clear.
As for internal dates and version numbers, not all users supply these,
but that it's good practice is
clear from StataCorp precept and practice, and from
-stylerules- on SSC, which is modelled on those. In addition, it is
very easy to -type- files, even those on remote sites, and/or
to look at the code in a text editor. You do need to be a Stata
programmer to understand this issue.
In addition, indicating dates of issue is standard
practice as far as STB/SJ material and SSC material is concerned.
Nick
[email protected]
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