Sergiy Radyakin ([email protected]) asked about "Expansion Modules"
in Stata:
> I wonder what the "Expansion Modules" in Stata are? And what is the
> difference between "expansion modules" and "plug-ins"?
> Any information is wanted.
Some discussion ensued with others on the list wondering what he was
talking about.
First, to avoid any confusion for someone new to Stata: Stata does
not have separate modules which must be purchased to perform certain
analyses. When you buy Stata, you get it all.
There are many user-written programs (ado-files, plugins, and Mata
code) available for Stata, and all of these may easily be installed for
free over the internet. Thus, Stata is expandable and easily expanded.
Now, back to Sergiy's question. I suspect that Sergiy has been
looking at one of the early chapters in a Stata "Getting Started"
manual, where a screen shot shows what Stata looks like when it
first comes up. In the place where Stata would normally display
its 'Notes' on the startup screen, the screen shot in the Getting
Started manual has italicized text which reads "Other information
appears, such as expansion modules, notes, ...".
Sergiy should not read too much into this screen shot. The italicized
text is merely letting the reader of the Getting Started manual know
that if Stata had anything important to say upon startup, this is where
it would be displayed. There currently is no such thing as a formal Stata
"expansion module", but if there ever is, information about it may be
displayed on the startup screen along with the Notes that are displayed
when Stata starts.
--Alan
([email protected])
*
* 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/
