Re: st: Version control question

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@ND.edu>]

At 01:36 PM 10/3/2005, khigbee@stata.com wrote:
> Having an older -version #- statement does not turn off the new
> features introduced in later versions.  It only changes the
> behavior of commands for those limited cases where version
> controlling is really needed.  Take a look at
An example of this, which was mentioned a while back (I believe Nick 
Cox and others pointed me in the general direction), is the use of 
the -level- command.  Here is a snippet from -gologit2- that shows 
how you can give 9.0 users the added flexibility of that command 
while still keeping the program running under 8.2:

        version 8.2
        local oktype = cond(`c(stata_version)' < 9, ///
                "integer `c(level)'", "cilevel")
        syntax [varlist(default=none)] [if] [in]        /// Standard Stata
                [pweight fweight iweight]  [,           ///
                ROBust CLuster(varname)                 ///
                Constraints(string)                     ///
                SCore(passthru)                         ///
                Level(`oktype')                         /// display options



>        Sometimes people think that if they are running Stata 9.1
>        and they place a -version 8- at the top of a program or do
>        file, get it running in their modern Stata, and then give
>        it to someone who only has Stata 8 (has not purchased
>        Stata 9) that the person using Stata 8 will be able to run
>        the program or do file.  The Stata 8 user will only be
>        able to run it if you avoid all the new commands and
>        language features found in your more modern Stata.
Very good point.  I've been zapped once or twice with -gologit2-, 
because I made modifications in 9.0 and didn't check to make sure 
that the program still worked right in Stata 8.2.   I currently have 
Stata 7, 8, and 9 on my computer - there is no great need to 
uninstall earlier versions unless you need the hard disk space.  If 
you are willing to go to the hassle, users of older versions of Stata 
will probably appreciate it if you don't limit your program unnecessarily.


-------------------------------------------
Richard Williams, Notre Dame Dept of Sociology
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