8.4 Program Block: transformed data
The transformed data block is for declaring and defining variables that do not need to be changed when running the program.
Variable Reads and Transformations
For the transformed data block, variables are all declared in the variable declarations and defined in the statements. There is no reading from external sources and no transformations performed.
Variables declared in the data block may be used to declare transformed variables.
Statements
The statements in a transformed data block are used to define (provide values for) variables declared in the transformed data block. Assignments are only allowed to variables declared in the transformed data block.
These statements are executed once, in order, right after the data is read into the data variables. This means they are executed once per chain.
Variables declared in the data block may be used in statements in the transformed data block.
Restriction on Operations in transformed data
The statements in the transformed data block are designed to be executed once and have a deterministic result. Therefore, log probability is not accumulated and sampling statements may not be used. Random number generating functions are also prohibited.
Variable Constraint Checking
Any constraints on variables declared in the transformed data block are checked after the statements are executed. If any defined variable violates its constraints, Stan will halt with a diagnostic error message.