Re: st: What is the proper way of modifying user-created ado-files. . .

[Joachim Landström <joachim.landstrom@fek.uu.se>]

Roy wrote
> Anyone interested in presenting their programs as a serious academic
> work should give serious considerations to including a citation and a
> paragraph or two documenting the origins of ideas that led to the
> creation of that program. Smaller programs obviously do not require
> this.

This actually ties well to the topic on "good" programming style.

When we write academic articles, style is important. We for example  
try to avoid using too much jargon, unnecessary abbreviations and we  
take pains in explaining stuff carefully. We do all this just to  
ascertain trnasparency so that other can evaluate what we do.

Should not the same standards adhere to "good" Stata programming  
style? Is it not important to write code which is more or less self  
explanatory so that it may be evaluated by peers without undue effort?  
Isn't this really a basic need if Stata programs aspire to yield  
credit at our universities too?

Joachim

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