Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:12:19 -0500
Reply-To: Paul Dorfman <sashole@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Paul Dorfman <sashole@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject: Re: Fun With SAS - My Vote for Oddest SAS Programming Language
"Feature"
Mike,
I would vote for RETAIN and LAG/DIF, as in my opinion, both are misnamed,
which alone has fostered endless heap of confusion in generations of SAS
programmers.
Since RETAIN is a negative compile time imperative, I would rather have the
instruction name start with a negative prefix, say, NOSETMISS, NOAUTONULL,
etc., even if such neologisms roll off the tongue much more awkwardly than
RETAIN. An oddly shaped keyword is a lesser evil than countless neophytes
scratching their heads asking what the heck the statement tells SAS to
retain.
Likewise, if LAG had been called QUEUE, a great body of SAS confusion could
have been avoided - both primary (based on not reading the documentation and
instead trying to ascertain the workings of LAG by code cannibalization),
and secondary (based, for example, on misguided recommendations to avoid
using LAG in conditional clauses and such). Perhaps it would be even better
if the functions were called something like QUEUEVAL and QUEUEDIF (or maybe
just QVAL and QDIF) - at least then no nonsensical impression would be
imparted that the functions have anything to do with the "current" and
"preceding" observations.
And, on the seasonal note: Happy New Year, everyone!
Kind regards
------------
Paul Dorfman
Jax, FL
------------
On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:39:58 -0500, Michael Raithel
<michaelraithel@WESTAT.COM> wrote:
>Dear SAS-L-ers,
>
>Each and every one of us who eats, drinks, breathes, sleeps, and dreams SAS
programming has one. It's that one feature of SAS that we think is kind
of... is very... is somewhat... well, odd. It could be an option, a format,
an informat, a function, a call routine, a statement, a PROC, etc. but it
exists and we scratch our heads and wonder why.
>
>If you can relate to this, let the list know your own vote for the oddest
SAS programming language feature.
>
>Here is one of mine:
>
>The EXCHANGE statement on PROC DATASETS swaps the names of two SAS data
sets. So, if it were executed against NEWFILE and OLDFILE, the name of
NEWFILE would be changed to OLDFILE and the name of OLDFILE would be changed
to NEWFILE. Consequently, the names of the two files would be exchanged.
And, it would happen in the flashing blur of a nanosecond!
>
>Here is an example:
>
>proc datasets library=work nolist;
>exchange newfile = oldfile;
>run;
>quit;
>
>In this example, we exchange the names of the NEWFILE and OLDFILE data
sets. The contents of each data set remains the same; it is just that they
got a name change.
>
>The EXCHANGE statement always reminds me of the Metamorphosis Illusion
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis_(illusion) ). I think that in
the unlikely event that I ever use it in one of my programs, I will watch it
very, very closely to see if I can discern exactly how the trick is done:)
>
>Happy New Year to one and all!
>
>I hope that this suggestion proves helpful now, and in the future!
>
>Of course, all of these opinions and insights are my own, and do not
reflect those of my organization or my associates. All SAS code and/or
methodologies specified in this posting are for illustrative purposes only
and no warranty is stated or implied as to their accuracy or applicability.
People deciding to use information in this posting do so at their own risk.
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Michael A. Raithel
>"The man who wrote the book on performance"
>E-mail: MichaelRaithel@westat.com
>
>Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the MVS Environment
>
>Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the OS/390 and z/OS Environments, Second
Edition
>http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=58172
>
>Author: The Complete Guide to SAS Indexes
>http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=60409
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is a null
word. - Robert A. Heinlein
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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