Re: st: Using version control software with Stata

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

Records of programs means quite different things to different people,
but similar (or similar-sounding) questions could interest many
people, so different ideas may be worth noting.

I should mention Stata 13's project manager and Robert Picard's
-project- (SSC), which might help.

I've never used version control software. The problem as I face it is
not really different versions -- except by accident, when I am working
on different machines, or careless about which directory I am working
in, or about which superseded versions still exist, where I am much
less tidy and systematic than many other people are.

The problem is I face it is just keeping track of programs I have
written. That usually means programs defined by ado-files, but the
issues could be very similar for do-files.

I've played over the years with two very simple Stata-based ideas.

One is  Stata datasets in which each program or do-file is a single
observation. Clearly you have the whole of Stata to use there and can
record dates, grouping by projects, extra notes, etc.

In Stata 13 up, I guess that you could hold programs themselves using
-strL- variables, although I've not tried it.

It can be a little tricky to look at that and work with some other
dataset, so you need two Statas open, which is the main disadvantage.

The other solution is to have a help file documenting programs or
do-files. This doesn't have to be SMCL-based, as -view- can be used to
look at any text file that might be relevant here, but SMCL allows
clickable links to help files, to run files, etc. and that can be
mighty useful. What I do for my commands in the public domain can be
seen in -njc_stuff- (SSC), but it's no more than that what works for
me, and either simpler or more complicated solutions might be needed.

A development of a point just made is that a substantial project can
itself be documented by its own help file. Nothing says that help
files are just what programmers write to document (more or less
substantial) commands. Anyone with a text editor can write a help file
and use it purely privately if they so wish.

Nick
njcoxstata@gmail.com


On 28 March 2014 10:26, Maarten Buis <maartenlbuis@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have thought about it many years ago, but never done it. What works
> for me is to work with directories. So for a program -simpplot- I have
> a directory called "simpplot", and within that I have directories
> called "1.0.0", "1.1.0", "1.2.0", etc. Whenever I want to change my
> program I create a new directory with the new version number, copy the
> latest version in it, and start working.
>
> I make heavy use of the trick that when you -clear all- and then -cd-
> to a directory with an .ado file in it, that .ado file will be loaded,
> even if you installed another version (e.g. from SSC). The same is
> true for the help files. So when working on a new version of
> -simpplot- I want Stata to load that new version (and fail horribly,
> so I can debug it...), so I -cd- to that directory. When I am working
> on another project and want to use -simpplot- I typically want to use
> the "official" version (the one from SSC), which is fortunately still
> the default with this way of working.
>
> This works for me because each of my programs are failry
> self-contained and consist of only a small number of files (-hangroot-
> is probably an exception).
>
> Best,
> Maarten
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 6:23 AM, Timothy Mak <tshmak@hku.hk> wrote:
>> Hi Statalist,
>>
>> I'm beginning to accumulate quite a lot of different do files and ado for the projects I'm working on, and am thinking of using a version control software to help me keep records of my programs. However, I don't have a computer programming background, and therefore no experience of using these things, and am not even sure it's something that's useful for do and ado files. However, if anyone on the list has experience to share in this regards, I'd very much love to hear.

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