Date:         Fri, 3 Oct 1997 15:43:41 -0400
Reply-To:     Frederik Malfait <imos_consulting@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Frederik Malfait <imos_consulting@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Organization: IMOS Consulting
Subject:      Re: Abusing SAS Macros -- Datastep vs SQL

John Whittington <johnw@MAG-NET.CO.UK> wrote in article
<199710011810.TAA13160@wildnet.co.uk>...
> There is no way in which one can systematically de-bug SQL code.  Sure,
SAS
> SQL includes syntax checking - but *being imperfect), if I am writing
> 'complicated' SQL code, it often has correct syntax, but nevertheless is
not
> doing quite what I want.  Were it Data Step code, I would be putting in
> 'diagnostic statements' (PUTs, STOPs etc.) all over the place in order to
> systematically examine what my code was doing.  With (syntactically
correct)
> SQL code, all I can do is 'keep staring at it' in the hope that I will
> eventually see what I've done wrong.
 
John,
 
Regarding your code diagnosing, the days of writing put statements in data
step code are definitely over. You can now use a built-in debugger to clean
your code. It works pretty much like the SCL debugger in SAS/AF. It lets
you step through your code, set breakpoints, examine variables, and much
more. Also handy to debug macro stuff.
 
--
Frederik Malfait, Consultant
IMOS Consulting
Halvestraat 9/3, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
Object Technology, Training Services, SAS OOAD, Java