L B <[email protected]> writes,
> I want to do something that will create all the mata variables using a
> list of which locals to bring into mata, and also to dynamically
> create the variable names to match the local names, i.e. I want to
> create a mata variable called "hairchar" with the contents of the
> local "hairchar".
LB offerred the following code, but admitted it did not work:
local characteristics hairchar weightchar heightchar ...
mata:
charvector=tokens(st_local(characteristics))
for (i=1; 1=cols(charvector), i++) {
`charvector[i]' = st_local(charvector[i])
}
end
I wrote an article for the Stata Journal on the use of macros in Mata
explaining what works and what doesn't work. The above is firmly in the
doesn't-work category. The short explanation is that Mata is a fully compiled
language and the compilation is made before the program is run, so any use of
macros that changes meaning at the time of execution is not going to work.
The article does a better job of explaining. Anyone who's interested can get
the article at
http://www.stata-journal.com/article.html?article=pr0040
although it will cost $7.
Here's what will work:
local characteristics hairchar weightchar heightchar ...
mata:
charvector=tokens(st_local(characteristics))
for (i=1; i<=cols(charvector); i++) {
p = crexternal(charvector[i])
*p = st_local(charvector[i])
}
end
The above hinges on the use of pointers and before I launch into an
explanation, I warm you that pointers are the solution to few problems. They
are, however, the solution to this one.
Function -crexternal("<name>") creates a Mata (global) variable named <name>,
which is easy enough to understand, and it returns a pointer to the created
variable. The issue is just creating the variable is not enough because you
are going to want to fill it in. In Stata, you would use macros to hold the
varying name just as LB did in his attempt. In compiled languages, macros
are no good for that, so -crexternal()- returns the address in memory of the
variable created. Variables containing addresses are called pointers. -p-
above is a pointer. It conains something like 0x9601bc, which is a base-16
representation of an address in memory.
*p is not multiplication. *p is the way one refers to the contents of an
address. If I were to code p = ..., that means to fill in p with ...
When I code *p = ..., that means to fill in the variable pointed to p or,
if you prefer, the variable whose address is p. Programmer jargon for this is
indirection.
Anyway, once this difficult-to-explain code has executed, LB will have
exactly what he wants.
-- Bill
[email protected]
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