Re: st: Re: re: do-file hygiene

[Michael McCulloch <mm@pinest.org>]

got it!

> Maybe a little unclear on my part: I tend to frolic in between runs 
> of do-files to try out new things, and that is where the -cmdlog- is 
> most helpful. Which is why you might want to start the -cmdlog- from 
> your profile.do...
>
> HTH
> Martin
> _______________________
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kit Baum" <kitbaum@mac.com>
> To: <statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2008 10:07 PM
> Subject: st: re: do-file hygiene
>
>
> > <>
> > Martin said
> >
> > What I have learned, though, is that you must make sure you still understand
> > what you did half a year ago when that report comes back where the referee
> > says that you should really have included another year in your panel.  A good
> > way to do that is to have your do-files instruct Stata to keep both
> > a-log-file, recording all screen output, and a command log. From my
> > experience, many users do not know about -cmdlog-s, and if they do, they
> > misunderstand the mechanism that allows simultaneous -log-ging
> > and -cmdlog-ging. The trick is that there is a handle (the -name-  option)
> > which is distinct from the -filename-...
> >
> >
> >
> > I fail to see what use a command log would be if created by running 
> > a do-file. The commands therein will presumably be exactly those of 
> > the do-file (unless you turn command logging off and on for some 
> > reason).
> >
> > The philosophy expressed in various contexts by StataCorp personnel 
> > suggest creating a set of hierarchical do-files, similar to that 
> > used  in producing a certification script (see Gould, 
> > http://ideas.repec.org/a/tsj/stataj/v1y2001i1p29-50.html which is 
> > freely downloadable). That is, your project (or  dissertation, or 
> > whatever) master do-file calls do-files A1, A2, B1,  B2, B3, C1, 
> > ...  which may in turn call subsidiary do-files. When you  execute 
> > the master file it runs all of the do-files associated with  the 
> > project, each of which generates a standard log file. This 
> > approach both documents every step that you take, from the first 
> > access of the raw data to the final tables, charts, estimation 
> > output,  etc. but the hierarchical arrangement means that you can 
> > document the  order in which all of the do-files are run. If a new 
> > processing step  is needed somewhere in the middle of the process 
> > that do-file can just  be inserted in the sequence.
> >
> > IMHO command logs are useful in interactive use of Stata, but as I 
> > would always rely on a do-file to do anything serious, I don't see 
> > why  I would want to have both foobar.do and foobar.txt, with 
> > foobar.txt  containing the commands in foobar.do.
> >
> > Kit Baum, Boston College Economics and DIW Berlin
> > http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba1.html
> > An Introduction to Modern Econometrics Using Stata:
> > http://www.stata-press.com/books/imeus.html
> >
> >
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