Re: st: RE: recommendation for learning to write Stata ado-files

[Andrea Bennett <mac.stata@gmail.com>]

Thank you for all the great inputs! It's a pity the student version of  
Stata does not come with the User's Guide included..

Kind regards,

Andrea


On Jun 3, 2008, at 6:53 PM, Nick Cox wrote:


> The User's Guide [U] is invaluable. [P] is less important for initial
> learning, important as you progress.
>
> At some point the question of whether to learn Mata as well as Stata
> will arise.
>
> Looking at other programs and help files is invaluable. Often somebody
> else's program is an excellent starting point. (Of course, you should
> acknowledge what you borrow.)
>
> It's a bit invidious to pick from user-written books: nevertheless Kit
> Baum's forthcoming book is very good. (Declaration of interest.)
>
> Getting to write do files before you write programs and getting used  
> to
> writing
> little programs before you write large ones are usually advisable.
>
> People who haven't programmed before sometimes under-estimate how
> difficult it can be.
> If you are not a detail-driven person accustomed to being very careful
> about small points as well as large ones, programming can be very
> frustrating. Even if you are, it can be very frustrating.
>
> On the other hand, programming can be a lot of fun as well as useful.
> Being able to customise what you do is very rewarding.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Andrea
> Bennett
>
>
> Does anyone have a good starting point for learning how to write ado-
> files (in case it is part of the Stata manuals, I don't have them!).
> Is there a book you would recommend? Or do you usually just learn by
> looking at existing ado-files?
>
> /
>
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