Date:         Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:53:35 -0400
Reply-To:     "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>"
              <schreier.junk.mail@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Howard Schreier <hs AT dc-sug DOT org>"
              <schreier.junk.mail@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Question on proc sql

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:40:22 -0400, Sigurd Hermansen <HERMANS1@WESTAT.COM>
wrote:

>Lorna:
>I've just found a few free minutes to respond to your question about SAS
>SQL ...
>
>You can trust me, the original SQLHead on SAS-L,

Are you sure? I started posting SQL solutions on SAS-L in about 1991.

>to give you an unbiased
>and objective appraisal of SAS SQL's virtues vs. that other dirty Data
>step quasi-procedural language that SAS still supports. Just replace
>"Mac" with "SQL" and "PC" with "Data step" in those TV commercials and
>you'll have the drift of my idea about SAS SQL vs. the SAS Data step
>language.
>
>SQL currently dominates the arena of database programming languages.
>That doesn't make SQL an ideal instance of a logic-set language, but it
>has substantial advantages in some respects over languages that process
>records and fields (or even those that process obs and variables). To
>name a few,
>
>1. SQL operates on relations (views, tables, etc.), thus freeing
>database programmers from the risky business of building explicit loops,
>while Data steps allow a confusing mixture of step-by-step processes
>(e.g., a sequence of assignments) and before and after operations (e.g.,
>ATTRIBUTE and KEEP statements);
>2. A SQL SELECT statement always produces (yields) a relation, allowing
>nesting of encapsulated SQL statements, while Data steps accumulate a
>trail of datasets or views;
>3. SQL allows references to a dataset/view and variable, making it
>easier to figure out sources of values, while DATA steps don't;
>4. SQL doesn't require a programmer to sort datasets and remains
>agnostic to ordering of tuples (obs) and attributes (variables), unlike
>the Data step;
>5. SQL joins appear several levels higher on the database programming
>tree of evolution than Data step merges (think sea otter vs. alligator);
>6. SAS SQL segues cleanly into SAS/Access to external databases;
>7. SAS SQL programmers have more fun.
>
>Now I must add that SAS-L has a number of very clever and creative
>programmers who make good use of the Turing-complete features of the SAS
>Data step. They may see some of what I see as disadvantages of the Data
>step as advantages. It pays to learn both, and to continue learning
>both. Really good programmers don't use the same set of Data step or SQL
>operations in the same way that they used them a few years earlier.
>S
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>Simon, Lorna
>Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 10:36 AM
>To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Question on proc sql
>
>
>I have a question about sql - what is the advantage of learning it? Are
>there things you can do in sql that you can't do in a regular sas data
>step?