Re: st: RE: Critique on comment syntax and suggestions

[Steven Samuels <sjsamuels@gmail.com>]

As I look at Stata's output, I do think I see a small bug in the  
results display.
*****************************
sysuse auto, clear
# delimit ;
// This next line won't get processed because I forgot to put a  
semicolon
drop if mpg ==.;
******************************

Output (SMCL or text)
****************************
sysuse auto, clear
. # delimit ;
delimiter now ;
. // This next line won't get processed because I forgot to put a  
semicolon
> drop if mpg ==.;
(0 observations deleted)
*****************************

 Notice that the line beginning the  valid command is started by a  
continuation character ">". I would call this a bug, but it does not  
mean that the line is part of the comment!

Steve



I think there is a small inconsistency, as Joseph pointed out.  A

You are not correct, Daniel; the following line is _not_ a part of the  
comment. Take a look at Joseph's message, especially his example 3 at http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2008-09/msg01271.html

Steve

On Jan 28, 2011, at 2:34 PM, Daniel Feenberg wrote:


On Fri, 28 Jan 2011, Steven Samuels wrote:

> --
>
>
> --
>
>
> I've been bitten in the past by omitting semicolons. I now use  
> continuation characters, and reserve the semicolon to delimit single  
> commands, especially for graphs, that have many, often long,  
> options. I find such commands easier to read and modify if each  
> option is on a single line. If I use continuation characters in such  
> commands, the lines look messy unless I line the characters up. For  
> me that's too much work. As Nick said, it's personal taste.
>
> Bryce, you are asking Stata's do-file editor to find syntax errors,  
> and I

Not really - the line:

drop if criticalvar=1;

is stricktly speaking part of the comment, and he is asking that it be  
colored as a comment, to match the view that Stata will take.  
Currently the editor is treating it as executable, which is clearly an  
incorrect parsing of the code.

> don't think that's its function.  After reading the second post  
> David referred to (it's by Joseph Coveney), I don't really see a  
> bug. Off topic, "Stata" is spelled "Stata." See the FAQ Section 8.2.
>
> Steve




*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/

*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/