So, "Would it be worthwhile for programmers to provide key words, perhaps in
the command's help file, to be detected by -search- or -findit-? . . ." To
distill the feedback so far,
Fred Wolfe: Yes, but in the command's ado-file
Kit Baum: Yes, but in the command's package file
Nick Cox: No
In the absence of a consensus, the following observations and suggestion for
a compromise might be helpful.
First, to be fair to StataCorp, -findit- (or -net search . . ., pkg-) *does*
already do a keyword search as well as it can throughout the package file's
descriptive text, if I understand its actions correctly. And so it's vital
to the mutual success of contributor and future contribution seeker to
assure that pertinent keywords appear in that text. Perhaps a note to this
effect added to the -ssc submit- guidance document would be beneficial, that
is, the author is alerted to the benefit of writing the text of the package
file's descriptive text to include deliberately considered keyword-style
terms, where this might not have been among the objectives beforehand in
preparing it. This, without imposing a new standard for acceptance.
It will always be a matter of judgment when the list is reasonably but not
cumbersomely inclusive. But in general, if the package description text is
written with an eye toward incorporating salient keyword-style terms
somewhere in it, then the chances are increased that the mindsets of author
and future user will align at least to the extent that the package won't
remain hidden from users using -findit-, who naturally have an inclination
to search using keyword-type terms.
Joseph Coveney
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
