At 16:28 26/02/04 +0000, Nick Cox wrote:
If that were my program I would throw the request
straight back at the user. I would never indulge
a list with an odd number of names.
The reason -parmest- and -parmby- don't throw the request back is that they
are often used in programs which call an estimation command which takes a
non-trivial amount of real time to converge. I would not want to throw away
all that work just because the user has inadvertently specified an extra
name to -rename()- . However, I would agree that an error-level diagnostic
is the way to go if an odd number of names is given to a Syntax 2' of
-rename-. (And possibly even for -descsave-.)
Roger
Roger Newson
>
> For what it's worth, I prefer Syntax 2', because, that way,
> it is clear
> which oldname is to be replaced with which newname. That is
> why I used
> (essentially) Syntax 2' in the -rename()- options of
> -descsave-, -parmest-
> and -parmby- (available either on SSC or on my website as
> specified in my
> signature). However, if you use Syntax 2', then it is
> probably a good idea
> to include a diagnostic in the case of an odd number of names, such as
>
> Warning: odd number of variable names in rename list - last
> one ignored
>
> (as used by my programs) or possibly a stronger error-level
> diagnostic.
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--
Roger Newson
Lecturer in Medical Statistics
Department of Public Health Sciences
King's College London
5th Floor, Capital House
42 Weston Street
London SE1 3QD
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7848 6648 International +44 20 7848 6648
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or 020 7848 6605 International +44 20 7848 6605
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.kcl-phs.org.uk/rogernewson
Opinions expressed are those of the author, not the institution.
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