st: Returning stata users wish list

[Steinar Fossedal <steinar.fossedal@gmail.com>]

Dear listers and StataCorp

I have sadly been away from Stata for a while, but I am happy to be
returning to Stata as my primary modeling tool. I recon a new version
is not very far off and it might be a little late for a wishing list,
but here I go anyway. Do let me know if some of my requests have
already been implemented in the latest version(s), or if my wishing
should be directed elsewhere.

-	SQL queries to build  tables, with the result placed either in
memory or directly in a data file. Source table(s) could be either
another dataset, a table from an odbc connection, or even the data
currently in memory.
-	append row(s) from memory directly to existing data file. (appendto
filename [if])
-	write data row directly to existing data file.(appendto filename
<varlist> <valuelist>
-	a second table in memory. (very useful for building eg. a result
table from repeated estimations)
-	Surface plot / heat map, or even better, full 3d grid plots.
-	an IN() function (like in SAS).
-	ability to create custom functions like ‘upper()’, useable directly
in an expression.
-	Stata grade documentation on how to build custom egen functions.
-	ability to set default values for programs/do/ado file parameters.

With high hopes for the future,

-Steinar

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