Date:         Fri, 20 Jun 2003 09:26:37 -0400
Reply-To:     jrholdcraft@AEP.COM
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Jennifer R. Holdcraft" <jrholdcraft@AEP.COM>
Subject:      %include versus SAS Autocall Facility
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

SAS-Ler's

I'm looking for some advice on the use of %include vs. autocall libraries.


I'm currently involved in a project where a co-worker and I are having
recurring disagreements over the whether to use
the SAS autocall facility or %includes in our program development.   I
want the former, he the latter.

I've done some information searches and one of the main disadvantages to
%include that I've seen mentioned is the
maintaining of the the filerefs that point to the macro files.  In our
case, however, there would still just be one macro
library (with the files named the same as the macro within them) and the
fileref would be established in the autoexec
just as the establishment of the autocall library - so this isn't a major
problem (as he is quick to point out).  The other
issue is efficiency - because the macros will be compiled for each
%include, whereas with autocall only when the
macro is first called and not after that.  However, in our situation we
have such a large process that we are running
the programs in parallel in separate SAS sessions, so the macros have to
be compiled in each session - whether through
%include or when first called.  So in our particular case the only real
advantage would be when macros are called
conditionally - the %include would compile no matter what, whereas with
autocall only if the condition was met and
the macro actually called.  We don't have too many of these cases though,
so the savings in terms of efficiency thorugh
autocall would be minimal.

My co-workers main reason for wanting the %include is that he says it is
nice for documentation purposes, because
at the top of the program you have all of the %includes and it makes it
clear exactly which macros are going to be used
in that segment of the processing.  My point is that we have a header in
all of the program files that lists the macros that are
called, but he doesn't like that - he says that method allows someone to
be lazy and there is no guarantee they will keep it
updated, whereas you MUST keep the %includes updated or the code just
won't run.  I don't think that's a good enough
reason - %include's aren't meant for documentation purposes in the first
place (correct me if i'm wrong), and I believe he
is just used to having them and wants things his way.  He claims that
using the autocall facility is lazy and in bad form.

I'm obviously hoping for more reasons to support the use of autocall, but
if there are valid reasons for doing it the other
way, that's fine and I'd like to hear them too.

Thanks in advance for you help!


Jennifer R. Holdcraft
AEP Market Risk Oversight
614-583-6761
Audinet 220-6761
jrholdcraft@aep.com