Re: st: RE: save9.ado updated to run in Stata 12

[Nick Cox <njcoxstata@gmail.com>]

This may sound an attractive aim, but you omit, perhaps because it is
obvious to you, an explanation that -save9- does not, and can not, do
all that your opening sentence proclaims. specifically  let "any
version of Stata save the dataset into a specific version number".

First, -save9- requires Stata 8 up. Second, any -save- to what can be
read by an older version omits data details that make no sense to that
version (there are partial exceptions, I think, but that's the
pattern). Whether that is important will vary. Third, you can at most
-save- to the same format or downwards. Fourth, any given Stata
version as far as I am aware only offers handles to -save- to the
current format and the previous so the fact that your program works on
Stata 8 up doesn't give it that much flexibility because the
particular version it runs on will have only two choices.

I am with Joerg on this: I don't understand the rationale of -save9-.
(I am generously credited with a code comment, but I still don't
understand the aim.)  If I am missing something, I would be glad to
know.

Nick

On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:58 AM, Marco Ercolani
<m.g.ercolani@bham.ac.uk> wrote:
> Dear Joerg,
>
> The reason for specifying a save9 command is to make any version of
> Stata save the dataset into a specific version number. This is useful for
> co-authors using different versions of Stata (e.g. Stata 12 and Stata
> 10) and in particular when sharing both "do" files and datasets. Thought
> the saveold command exists, this is Stata-version dependent. Save9 is
> also useful to make sure the data are always saved into a specific format
> that other statistical packages can import regardless of which version of
> Stata one upgrades to (e.g. Gretl can't import Stata 12 data). An old
> request for these types of save# commands was made some time ago:
> http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2007-06/msg00135.html
>
> yours sincerely,
>
> Marco.
> ------------------------------
>
>>Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:52:21 -0400
>>From: Joerg Luedicke <joerg.luedicke@gmail.com>
>>Subject: Re: st: save9.ado updated to run in Stata 12
>>
>>My question still stands:
>>
>>http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2011-04/msg00654.html
>>
>>I really don't understand the purpose of this program.
>>
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