General Statistical Packages Comparisons - Agricultural Statistical Data Analysis Using Stata - page 4

of the software you buy. It is a great introduction to the program that
will help you get a feel for how it works and gives you an opportunity
to work though some examples.
Windows and Menus
There are several windows in Stata, each with a unique and useful
function. All of these windows are accessible under the Windows
menu. This brings up an interesting point about using Stata. With
the number of windows and available information, having a large
monitor can be very helpful. With a large monitor, you can view sev-
eral windows simultaneously, which makes it much easier to use. The
Command, Results, Variables, and Review windows are integrated
into a single window, referred to here as the Main window. These areas
(i.e., Command, Results, Variables, and Review) are often referred to
as windows and are listed separately under the Window menu.
In previous versions, the Results window appeared with a black
background in the default setting. This is now referred to as the Classic
setting in the Preferences menu. The Classic view is particularly nice
because different colors are used on a black background for the vari-
ous types of output. This can be particularly helpful when learning the
program. This window is where all of the results of your analyses will
appear as well as echoing commands you type in or initiate from the
GUI dialog windows. This window has a reasonably large buffer so
you can scroll back to look at previous analyses and commands. This
buffer is not unlimited, however, so eventually results will no longer
be visible as more and more information is added.
Figure 1.1 shows the Main window right after you have opened the
Stata application. There are several pieces of information displayed
in this window upon startup: the version number, company contact
information, and the license information. The blue texts are live links,
which can be clicked to go to Stata's Web site or to send an email to
Stata, which requires an Internet connection.
Text will appear differently in the Results window depending on its
source. The default output is black, black/bold, red, and blue with each
representing something different. Text in black/bold represents the
command and this information will change depending on the com-
mand and the dataset in memory. Black text is for labels to indicate