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Re: st: Enhancing stata programming skills
From
Nick Cox <[email protected]>
To
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject
Re: st: Enhancing stata programming skills
Date
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 19:56:28 +0000
Programming can mean anything from writing down a single Stata command
that worked (we should all have managed that) to writing the magic
word -program- and defining your own new commands, and within that to
writing really powerful and impressive commands.
It is a fair bet that people who are struggling or frustrated are just
trying too much too soon. At the same time, many _very_ experienced
users have never written a single Stata program and are very happy
about that. As one of them said to me, "I signed up to be a
statistician, not a programmer".
In so far as I recall them, the kinds of problem you have been
struggling with have not required new programs from anyone. They are
nitty-gritty problems requiring a succession of commands each nudging
the data step-by-step towards the desired condition. Working out the
right sequence can be a tough call even for very experienced users,
particularly if data arrive in an unfamiliar or inappropriate form.
I usually want a small toy dataset to play with. Staring at a problem
is no good unless you have seen it before.
There really is no substitute for knowing as much of Stata as
possible. At the same time, it's clear that Stata is so big that you
have to be selective, and you can afford to be.
The first guide to Stata programming is within [U]. It's still one of the best
People often seem to miss that many of the commands covered in [D] can
solve or illuminate their problem.
Kit Baum's book is excellent.
The Stata Journal has an expository and tutorial side.
I am not sure this will help much.
Nick
[email protected]
On 21 February 2014 19:14, R Zhang <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Statalisters,
>
> could you give some recommendation concerning enhancing stata
> programming skills?
>
> I read a few programming book, but when I browse the posting on
> statalist, I feel I need so much more to understand some of the
> programs posted.
>
> thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts,
>
> Rochelle
> *
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> * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/resources/statalist-faq/
> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
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