st: -cmdname- convention commended concisely

[Nick Cox <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

I'd like to draw many members' attention to the -cmdname- convention that is commended in the Statalist FAQ and used routinely by most of the more active or experienced members of the list. 

It's simply this: use - - to indicate Stata syntax that might be typed. 

This is not needed, and indeed a distraction, for blocks of code that are displayed separately within postings. But it often helps flag your code references that are embedded in text discussion.

Of many examples that could be cited, one very recent thread flitted back and forth between discussing the -syntax- command and Stata's command syntax. See how the - - help clarify what is being referred to? 

Of course, some people may prefer their own convention, such as using "syntax" but that in turn can easily be awkward because of numerous other ways that quotation marks might be used. 

One convention that must be declared poor is using caps such as SYNTAX. This is not at all Stataish, partly because it does not correspond to anything you might type and partly because it creates among many people a synaesthetic reaction that you are SHOUTING, which is not a good idea. 

As said, this is a convention not a rule, but it is a good one (or more precisely a Gould one). 

Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 



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