(1) -egen- without which my life would be unbearable
(2) Date formats
(3) -while- and -foreach- without them I'd have gone loopy
(4) All the math functions - I like abs and int especially
(5) All the string functions - e.g. very useful when dealing with postcodes,
Unitary Authority codes, etc. It also allows me to loop through datasets with
years and months as part of the filenames (so that I can have "0" precede single
digit months).
(6) -program- it allows me to do a set of commands repeatedly without setting up
a separate do file
(7) -xi- Hello, my name is Ada and I am a Dummy Variable Addict.
(8) -ds- I've only learnt about it from Nick Cox couple of weeks ago and it's
the thing that got me start using Stata 8 SE (I had it installed on my computer
for months but being obtuse I refuse to use it...)
(9) -if/else- I use the Labour Force Survey and it's slightly different in each
quarter. This command allows me to do slightly different things for each year
and quarter.
(10) -merge/append/joinby-
Finally, 2 very useful Stata non commands:
(1) Unix batch mode - allow me to switch off my own computer while having a
remote computer run estimations that take days.
(2) "Copy Table" in the Viewer and Results windows.
