Check That Your Code Runs

Setup

Make sure that you open your Stata Project first, then run the project.do file every time

Introduction to Reproducibility

• Goal - rerun full analysis with a single click (or command)
• First step - Make sure your code runs anytime and anywhere
  • next day (who has gotten code working & had it not work the next day?)
    • desktop vs. laptop
    • collaborators
    • advisor

Make sure things you did before don’t matter

• Computers store the results of each command run in sequence
• Change something
• Looks like it still works
• Only works because of something you did earlier in the same session

Clearing environments and restarting Stata

• Clear Stata environment using clear.
  • removes data in memory
  • does not clear globals, macros, program, etc.
• Clear Stata environment using clear all
  • provide a complete reset of the Stata environment
  • removes data in memory
  • removes globals, macros, or anything else that Stata was keeping in memory
• Safest thing is to clear all
• Then run the entire file using the execute button or Ctrl+D
• Ensures that the code runs fully and produces desired result
• Last required exercise of every assignment will walk you through this process

Check every assignment

• To reinforce this important step in coding the last required exercise each week is the check that your code runs

  Show last exercise of first assignment

• This will remind you to check that everything is running and fix any issues
• It will also make grading much easier because when I run your code it will run
• At the start of the semester if the code doesn’t run when I go grade I’ll DM you on Slack and give you a chance to fix it before grading

Summary

• Always make sure your code runs from start to finish.
• Reproducibility is key: your code should run on any computer at any time.
• Avoid relying on state created interactively in the middle of a session.