Renzo Comolli
>
> I believe the following is an omission.
> As you can see from the second -about- command, -clear-
> does reset the
> version to the most updated version downloaded,
> but in the -trace- only the "main number" of the version is shown.
>
> Renzo Comolli
>
>
> . about
>
> Intercooled Stata 8.1 for Windows
> Born 09 Sep 2003
>
>
> . set trace on
>
> . clear
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
> begin clear ---
> - version 8
>
>
> * rest of trace omitted
>
> . about
>
> Intercooled Stata 8.1 for Windows
> Born 09 Sep 2003
The trace is telling you that
-clear- is a version 8 program.
Here it is:
*! version 3.1.6 05jul2002
program clear
version 8
drop _all
label drop _all
matrix drop _all
scalar drop _all
constraint drop _all
eq drop _all
file close _all
postutil clear
_return drop _all
discard
end
That -version 8- statement instructs Stata
to interpret the syntax of the program following
according to the syntax of version 8, although
this in itself (a) does not absolutely rule out
the program writer using later features; (b)
does not set the clock back in respect of
any bug fixes. Moreover, the -version- statement
has no impact beyond the running of the program.
The -version 8- within clear is not related to the version
of the executable you are using, in
your case Stata 8.1, except in so far
as you could not run programs defined
for version x with any executable with
version y < x. 8.0 < 8.1, so there is no
problem.
Lots of official Stata commands set the version
to some version below the current executable,
largely on the grounds of not fixing what's not
broken.
Nick
[email protected]
>
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