" This is tricky. There are various possible scenarios." ... I see what you mean. Sounds like it'd be better to just keep myself organized.
PS -----Original Message----- From: gretl-users-bounces(a)lists.wfu.edu [mailto:gretl-users-bounces(a)lists.wfu.edu] On Behalf Of Allin Cottrell Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 2:23 PM To: Gretl list Subject: Re: [Gretl-users] saving session vs saving data On Fri, 11 Sep 2009, Summers, Peter wrote: > Allin & Sven, many thanks for your prompt responses and clear > explanations. I hope you don't mind another two cents' worth on > this. Not at all. > I like the provisional fix -- in fact I was typing a suggestion > along those lines when I got the message below. You really do > rock, Allin! ;-) thanks. > I like the idea of preserving an 'in-session' version of the > data set, but I can also see confusion arising if, say, I end up > with two slightly different versions of what I think are the > same data (ie, 'my data.gdt' and 'my data' that's saved in 'my > session.gretl'). Maybe there could also be a prompt or option to > update the .gdt file from within the session? This is tricky. There are various possible scenarios. 1) I load a data file, do some econometrics, and save the session. The original data file is still on my hard drive, and I decide to update it at some point. The version in my session file is now out of sync. Having some sort of sync option could be nice, but it could also be fiendishly complicated. Suppose the "update" involved deleting some variables, but those variables were used in models saved in the session file. Or suppose the update revised the values of some series that were used in the models. Now the estimates are out of sync, plus some tests on the saved models could now go awry. 2) Since the session file was saved, the original data file has been deleted or moved. Perhaps an unrelated data file has been created, with the same name as the one that was originally loaded into the session! 3) I email my session file to someone else. The other party happens to have an unrelated gretl data file of the same name as the one I used. And so on. This could get really ugly. I think the session-file has to be a self-contained snapshot. But this should be explained properly in the manual. On the other hand, if you have a script that carries out the econometrics, there's no problem in rerunning that script on a new version of the dataset. (Well, it might involve some revisions to the script, but that's easy.) Allin. _______________________________________________ Gretl-users mailing list Gretl-users(a)lists.wfu.edu http://lists.wfu.edu/mailman/listinfo/gretl-users
