st: RE: Will Stata/MP speed up running multiple dofiles in batch mode?

[Alex Eapen <alex.eapen@sydney.edu.au>]

Hi all,

I would appreciate some advice on whether Stata/MP will be helpful in the following situation:

I currently have Stata/SE 10.1 for Mac. I would like to run several do-files at once (rather than sequentially). I see that this can be done by running Stata in batch mode from, say, the Terminal application in Mac OS (see http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/unix/batch.html). That is, at the prompt in the Terminal application in a Mac OS, I type:

statase -b do bigjob1.do &

followed by....
statase -b do bigjob2.do &

and then...
statase -b do bigjob3.do &

And all three dofiles run simultaneously.
1. My first question is whether there is a limit on how many do files can be run simultaneously in this manner?
2. I compared the time it takes to execute a single dofile alone to when it is run simultaneously with the other two. (I ensured all three dofiles contain exactly the same code, so any difference in time-to-run is not because of different commands in them). When the three dofiles are running simultaneously, possibly because stata resources on my computer are being stretched across three dofiles, each one takes longer to complete. Will Stata/MP help in this situation? Will Stata/MP distribute the execution of dofiles (or parts of them) across multiple cores and thus reduce the time it takes for each to complete?
Thanks in advance.
Warm regards,
Alex

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