RE: st: Multinomial Logit Model - Cramer Ridder Test

[Nick Cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

This is not quite correct. Rather, installing -crtest- from SSC implies installing the current version of -_pecats- from SSC, which  presumably remains the responsibility of its authors. 

If -crtest- is installed right now, then -_pecats- 1.6.8 would be installed, setting aside other possible complications: 

. ssc type _pecats.ado
*! version 1.6.8 12/17/00

I don't think there is any objection in principle to using other people's user-written programs. The main problem in practice is that changes in those other programs might zap the using programs. 

In particular, anybody interested in this kind of thing is likely to install -spost- from the authors' website (-findit spost-), which in turn may well overwrite the -_pecats- above. 

Neither program here is mine, but speaking as a program author I can't possibly know about everything else that uses my programs. I am reluctant to change syntax in a way that would have major effects on others, but Stata moves on, and maintaining multiple versions or having multiple version-dependent switches inside programs is not attractive to me, so sooner or later dependence on a program that no longer exists may become a problem. Many program authors have similar attitudes.  

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 

Richard Williams

As a sidelight, -crtest- includes its own copy of _pecats.ado. I 
consider this bad form, because _pecats.ado is a Long and Freese 
command that is part of their suites, and the version included with 
-crtests- is several years behind the current version. It may have 
been included with permission, but if it was me I would have renamed 
it to avoid conflicts with other programs. I tried to install 
-crtests- and got these warning messages about overwriting existing 
files, which I do not want to do.


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