Stata has very powerful data manipulation functionality
and I think it does not make much sense to mimic Stata
commands such as, e.g., -generate- in Mata, because Mata
will almost sure be slower. My recomondation is to use Mata
only for data manipulation tasks that are hard to implement
in terms of standard Stata commands or that are really slow
in Stata. For example, manipulation tasks that involve
temporarily reshaping the data, can be done more efficiently
in Mata. For an example see the code of -supclust-
(available form SSC). Type
. ssc install supclust
. viewsource supclust.ado
Maybe StataCorp has a different opinion on this.
ben
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Fred Wolfe
> Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 4:21 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: st: [Mata] passing a function to mata (new question)
>
>
> Bill,
>
> In reference to your comments below, I have found Mata a
> little daunting
> with respect to how it might be used for data management and variable
> manipulation - non-statistical uses. Is there any thought to
> addressing
> these uses simply some where? or even having a net course?
> Your slides from
> the users meeting were helpful, but more of an overview than
> an actual
> tutorial for the uses I describe. Is it worth it for a data
> manipulator
> like me to use Mata?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Fred
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