Well! I had no inkling that my initial musings regarding versions
would cause Nick to gestate a fully-grown FAQ on the many versions of
version that are of concern to Stata programmers and users. It is a
comprehensive review and I am happy to say I learnt a couple of things
including the "highest common denominator" version effect which arises
when ados call other ados.
I am also hard-pressed to suggest any tweaking or additions (but ever
fools rush in...) other than:
* You are well advised to change the name of the program. {While the choice
is entirely up to you, renaming the altered program to harmonize with the
edited Stata version (foobar.ado edited from -version 10- to -version 8- renamed
foobar8.ado) is a good way to make changes clear.} Otherwise you
may confuse yourself, and any others you distribute the program to, even
if you only use the program privately or within a restricted group. You
should certainly not put your version into the public domain where it
may be confused with the original. {Also, if you leave the original name and
later -adoupdate, update-, your edited file will be overwritten if
there is a newer
official version.}
{edits in curly brackets}
Ben Jann has raised a subtle point, and one where Stata and
considerate programmers should be praised - writing down-versioned ado
routines that can sniff for Stata version and run on older installs
while using advanced optimizations like Mata subroutines for speed
advantages on higher Stata versions. That's classy programming in my
books.
DCElliott
*
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