st: Re: integration of Stata routines

[Kit Baum <baum@bc.edu>]

On Oct 25, 2004, at 2:33 AM, Daniel wrote:

>  I am pretty ambivalent about
> Stata being better on integrating user-written routines into official
> program. I realize that it's probably a pain to Stata Inc, but I do
> notice that until I have a real need to have something be done, I
> don't go looking for it in SSC or the Archives - I look in the command
> helps. So sometimes, because I am lazy, I miss out on some cool
> routines.
As far as I can see StataCorp developers 'adopt' routines from the user 
community when they think they (1) fit a ( more or less 
widely-)expressed need,  (2) where the user code (or at least the 
interface design) is decent enough to serve as a starting point for 
professional development (jncluding the development of dialogs, etc.), 
and (3) where the company is willing to take on the added burden of 
top-quality technical support. Therefore, you see something like the 
peculiarity of [r] meta, explaining why there is no official support 
for meta-analysis (for the third reason above: from what they have 
said,  no one on staff at StataCorp feels that they could provide the 
knowledgeable level of support that the company considers necessary).

That said, there are many good user routines out there (including a 
number of my own!) that have not been 'adopted' into official Stata, 
for one or more of the reasons above. But findit will locate all of 
them, whether they are in SSC, the STB, the SJ, or on other user sites. 
Laziness that does not permit typing 'findit' rather than 'help' does 
not seem very compelling in terms of saved effort--especially since 
'help' only works if you know what the command is named in the first 
place.

Kit Baum, Boston College Economics
http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba1.html

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