TU16
SAS Macro Design Issues
Invited
Ian Whitlock
Westat
Abstract:
Two questions motivated this paper. The first came more than twenty years ago at the end of my first programming course when the professor asked, "You now know how to write programs, but do you know when it is appropriate to write a program?" For SAS macro
the question might be rephrased. What kind of SAS problem is appropriate to macro? Or when should the solution involve macro code? The second came from SAS-L in September 2001, "What sources discuss how to develop clear and good macro code?" There have be
en many Beginning Tutorials on macro, and many of the examples in them may illustrate some of the principles that these questions hint at, but I do not know of any source that concentrates on the principles. To sum up, I will consider: 1) What makes a
macro good? and 2) How do you make a maintainable, useful, clear system of macros? Do you need to know how to write %IF and %DO statements to understand this talk? No, all terms will be introduced, however, knowing something about these statements will in
crease your appreciation of the subject.
Biography: