blindglobe@GMAIL.COM replied: > >On 5/23/07, David Wright <David_wright@spra.com> wrote: >>I would like an alternative to Base SAS that was more like a programming >>language. Most programming languages don't have SAS's (is that a word?) >>great >>procedures. Even proc print has some great automatic formatting routines. >>To >>print in a normal language you have to specify formats for all the >>variables >>or create a form, which takes a good long time. >> >>I recently ported a SAS Window data entry program in Visual Basic and it >>turned into a much longer program becuase you had to test, trim, and take >>care of every field, make sure the data types are all consistent. Forms >>had >>to be created just to print the output, you had to test and make sure the >>columns were the right size. > >What exactly are your use cases -- only data manipulation? or >integration with MS Windows programs? need the results to "fit in" >UI-style? > >If so, then SQL, Python, or Perl would be acceptable, and the last two >of general use (though Perl tends to be a write-only language until >one gets addicted to it like any other drug).

Hey! I like Perl! Oh wait, I'm addicted already... :-)

Seriously, Perl and Python seem like reasonable choices, while SQL is limited to the usual database manipulations and basic displays.

I would also add Ruby to this list. Perl, Python, and Ruby have extensive modules which provide functionality that is somewhat analogous to SAS procs.

>If you don't need the last, then you could write pure R, as someone >else suggested (the only cross platform GUI toolkit for R that is >stable is TK-based, which some find extremely ugly, and people who are >merely pragmatic like because it "works").

Agreed. R is good. But it's stat only. I wouldn't want to have to perform SAS-like database management or data manipulations or data display or ETL in R.

>But thinking about your task description, it'll be annoying no matter >what the language, and only less annoying if you know the language. > >best, >-tony

The secret is to find a language that makes the easy tasks easy, and yet makes the hard tasks do-able. I find that SAS and Perl are two such languages. For me, anyway. And there are things I certainly would not write in either language. Like a real-time OS, or error handling for Homer Simpson's nuclear power plant...

David -- David L. Cassell mathematical statistician Design Pathways 3115 NW Norwood Pl. Corvallis OR 97330

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