Date:         Mon, 26 Apr 2004 14:10:02 -0400
Reply-To:     "Fehd, Ronald J. (PHPPO)" <rjf2@CDC.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Fehd, Ronald J. (PHPPO)" <rjf2@CDC.GOV>
Subject:      Re: symchk: checking for macro variable existance
Comments: cc: Quentin McMullen <quentin_mcmullen@BROWN.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Quentin writes
> I would agree that revising to upcase(name) sounds like good
> defensive coding.  Would just add that there is a cost to
> upcasing strings unnecessarily (which I have at times been
> willing to pay).  I believe when you use the upcase()
> function on the where statement, sas cannot use any available
> index.  So I've seen things slow down a *lot* when using a
> where statement against a big dictionary table, and adding
> upcase() in order to be defensive.  So there is a cost to
> weigh against the benefit.  In many cases, it's may be worth
> the cost for the defensive gain (wasn't too long ago that all
> variable names were upcase, and I'd imagine some macros
> started breaking when they went to mix case in v7).

point well taken: yes,
I am aware of the cost of adding functions to a where clause.
in this case, we're already behind the 8-ball
because we're reading a view: SAShelp.vMacro.

in the long run,
I can's see that this function will be used a great deal
it is a pretty esoteric tool,

that said I am/will be using it in a lot of fan-in macros
i.e. sub-routines called often by many other routines/macros.
so perhaps I shall just put that upcase(name) in the change notes
for the far-off future when the names are Upper- and Lowercased
and it breaks.

> >The macro had
> >%let   DsId = %sysfunc(open(SAShelp.vMacro
> >(where = (name = "%UPCASE(&Name)"))));
> >
> >and the question was
> >-- with regard to defensive programming --
> >whether this was more robust:
> >(where = (upcase(name) = "%UPCASE(&Name)"))));
> >
> >TechSupport replied:
> >
> >> I cannot guarantee the future,
> >> but at this point in time,
> >> yes they are stored in upper case.
> >> I do not know of any plans to change that.
> >
> >I'm planning to make that change:
> >no fear for that macro breaking
> >and a I'll always have a good night's sleep when I remember it.
> >
> >Ron Fehd  the robust macro maven  CDC Atlanta GA USA RJF2@cdc.gov
> >
> >Efficiency is intelligent laziness. -David Dunham
> >... and defensive coding for robustness