> IMHO, editor wars are most of the time are tempests in tea pots when it
> comes to SAS coding. SAS is an extremely concise language, and a
programmer
> spends most of the time thinking about how to tell the machine what to do
> rather than typing instructions. Hence I concur with David that almost any
> editor will go except perhaps bone-dry Notepad... I do not like Brut,
> although it has its advantages as well. 6.12 SAS Program Editor offers
> enough, except perhaps tongue-specific highlighting. If you try to adhere
to
> the following:

> -- keep code consistently indented
> -- make code lines neither too long, nor too short
> -- separate logically independent portions of code and steps with blank
> lines or even *---------* ;
> -- use blanks around operators and before semicolons (thanks, Ian) for
> better instant visual comprehension (a = b, not a=b)
> -- close steps with RUN/QUIT statements
> -- become a line-up freak (i.e. instead of this:

> A=.1;
> ABC=5.2;
> today=date();
> Xy=256.32;

> try this:

> A     =    .1   ;
> ABC   =   5.2   ;
> Xy    = 256.32  ;
> today = date () ;

> in my experience, there is not line-up effort that does not pay off later
> on),

> and you will avoid needing many fancy editor features designed to cover
for
> stylistic sloppiness. And good folks looking at your intellectual heritage
> will have no reason to suppress a surge of instinctive hostility towards
an
> incognito. My $.02, anyway.

> Kind regards,
> ------------------
> Paul M. Dorfman
> Jacksonville, FL
> ------------------

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SA...@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Sober Hi
> > Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:08 AM
> > To: SA...@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: SAS IDE Development Environment

> > This board is a wonderful resource. Thanks to all.

> > I am new to SAS (and don't even do this full-time), so be
> > gentle (please).

> > At work, we have SAS 6.12 and do NOT have a license for SAS'
> > excessively pricey Client IDE. It is a small shop here and
> > budgets are thin.

> > I am currently using TEXTPAD with SAS syntax highlighting for
> > coding development. This tool does little more than syntax
> > highlighting. (The other two people who do some occasional
> > SAS development here use Notepad !!!).

> > I am in need something that does much more. I have other
> > programming experience in SQL Server and Visual Basic and
> > have been spoiled by their rich IDE.

> > The only tools I found out there are UltraEdit (which seems
> > to do the same thing as TextPad) and ASAP by ComplementSoft.
> > What else is out there other than ASAP? What are people
> > using? Any advice? Hints?
> > Suggestions?

> > Kindly advise. I did try to search around before posting and
> > was unable to find an article discussing this in detail. If
> > someone can help me find one, that might suffice as well......

> > Thanks in advance.....

> > Soberhi