Date:         Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:36:31 -0500
Reply-To:     Peter Flom <peterflomconsulting@mindspring.com>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Peter Flom <peterflomconsulting@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Re: What simple tutorials do you need for Base SAS?
Comments: To: Warren Schlechte <Warren.Schlechte@TPWD.STATE.TX.US>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Warren Schlechte <Warren.Schlechte@TPWD.STATE.TX.US> wrote

>
>AND, good explanations (liberal comments).
>
>The code I have seen you advance on this listserve seems arcane to me,
>and it hurts my head trying to understand what each part does.
>
>It is probably very applicable code, but it won't be applied code until
>users can be certain they understand what it is doing, including the
>subtle nuances that might bite them.
>

Absolutely.

To read one's own code without comments is difficult.
To read someone else's code, especially if it introduces new ideas, requires a lot of explanation.  Several people on SAS-L give code with great comments - reading these answers not only solves the problem, it teaches programing.  In addition, some of the SAS Samples on their web site have very detailed comments, which helps a lot

Peter