Re: VB vs. SAS

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From: Duane Bozarth (dp_bozarth_at_swko.dot.net)
Date: 11/22/04 

Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:43:42 -0600

Kenneth Lederman wrote:
>
> Hello, all,
>
> I work in a SAS shop. A good part of my work is with SAS AF, with
> which object-oriented programming can be done.
> A number of people in my area are trying to get VB installed. They
> work with it at home and claim that it's more efficient to use for
> programming. In order to get management to order it, however, they
> have to demonstate, in a quantitative manner, that time is saved by
> programming in VB, rather than SAS/AF.
> Do any of you know whether or not programming is easier and more
> efficient using VB, as opposed to SAS/AF, and if there is any
> anecdotal evidence or studies that support that?
> They want an answer by Wed., Nov. 23.

I'm unaware of any studies or other evidence comparing VB w/ SAS.

I'll make two comments, however--

1. If the decision to buy VB is equivalent to a decision to move to VB,
making such a decision in this time frame is most likely a mistake, and

2. The anwer to the question as posed is imponderable and has no answer
that will hold in general. It's no different than the age-old "is C
better/worse than <fill in the blank>?" troll-bait questions that arise
repetitively. The answer will depend on <what> is being programmed, the
skill/experience level of the programmers, the objective of the code
(long-term production or "throwaway" ad-hoc solutions) and a "veritable
plethora" of other considerations...

Well, ok, having made those, I've just a little more to add... :)

Having spent 20+ years consulting in engineering utilizing much
experiment design and other statistical analysis techniques if those
pieces are significant there's absolutely no way to get out of VB (or
any other general-purpose programming language, for that matter) at all
quickly the kinds of analyses that are provided by core SAS routines.
Certainly, even if one codes the necessary algorithms one will not have
the numerical robustness nor QA behind the solutions available in core
SAS routines. If, on the other hand, one is trying to use SAS for
general-purpose programming, that's another kettle of fish...

There is, of course, yet the other issue of maintaining compatibility
and interchangeability w/ existing code that may (or may not) be a
significant factor...

While it won't be unbiased, if I were in your shoes I'd go look at the
current SAS white papers as a refresher course on what is/isn't
considered to be the strong point of SAS. With that, a consideration of
what are the comparative strengths/weaknesses of VB may be easier to
develop.

A google may turn up something but I'd be real surprised to find these
two disparate products compared directly...

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