palpen / grades_sum_stats Goto Github PK

Just came across your repo and thought I'd offer some suggestions that could make your script more stable/flexible and follow typical coding practices in Stata.

1. Rename grade_sum_stats.do to grade_sum_stats.ado. This will make it easier to pass parameters and for others to use the command.
2. Include a version number after defining the program (e.g., version 13.1). The syntax for insheet changed a bit in version 14 and it might result in code breaking, while the version command will help to make sure the code is interpretted consistently across versions.
3. What happens if the user doesn't have outreg2 available on their system? I created a utility for another program I was working on here that will install the program if unavailable (assuming it is available from the ssc). This can avoid problems with that (especially if you ever need to get a new machine or need the code to be portable).
4. You can get rid of the first loop in the script using

ds, not(type string)
loc grade_vars `r(varlist)'
ds, has(type string)
loc string_vars `r(varlist)'

di as res `"The variables `: subinstr loc grade_vars `" "' `", "', all' are numeric.  And "' _n `"The variables `: subinstr loc string_vars `" "' `", "', all' are string variables"'

1. If you include either the lower level commands to parse the parameters or the syntax command, you can allow users to pass values a bit more flexibly and consistently. (e.g., if the user is using file paths with embedded strings the insheet command will likely fail when it expands the local macros).