What is this piece of code doing

[ChuksManuel]

Hello programmers,

Please can someone summarize what this code is doing? I'm new to SAS macro but this code has been confusing a little bit. I understand that it's doing an array over 16 items

%macro jorm (base, better, worse, first, y, raw);

data jorm_&y; set raw.&raw (keep = hhid pn &base &better &worse); 
	array base [16] &base;
	array better [16] &better;
	array worse [16] &worse;
	array jorm [16] jorm_&y._1 - jorm_&y._16;

	if &first NE . then do;

		iqcode_dkrf_&y = 0; 

		do i = 1 to 16;
			
			if base[i] = 1 then do; /*better*/
				if better[i] = 1 then jorm[i] = 1; /*much better*/
				else if better[i] in (2, 8, 9) then jorm[i] = 2; /*a bit better*/
			end;

			else if base[i] = 2 then jorm[i] = 3; /*same*/

			else if base[i] = 3 then do; /*worse*/
				if worse[i] in (4, 8, 9) then jorm[i] = 4; /*a bit worse*/
				else if worse[i] = 5 then jorm[i] = 5; /*much worse*/
			end;

			else if base[i] in (8, 9) then do; /*8=dk/na, 9=rf*/
				jorm[i] = .;
				iqcode_dkrf_&y = iqcode_dkrf_&y + 1; /*count of dk/na*/
			end;

			else if base[i] = 4 then do; /*4=NotApplicable - do NOT count as dk/rf*/
				jorm[i] = .;
			end;

		end;
		
		IQCODE_&y = mean (of jorm[*]); /*mean IQCODE score over non-missing items*/

		if iqcode_dkrf_&y > 3 then IQCODE_&y = .;	/* set to missing 4+ dk/rf*/

	end;

. Please I'll appreciate straight contributions, any referral will not help at this point.  Thanks

[Patrick · Accepted solution]

What's between %macro jnorm.... and %mend ... is your macro definition. You then call this macro somewhere in code like %jnorm(<and here the parameter passing>).

base, better etc. are the parameter names.

For example in your macro definition you've got

- %macro jnorm (base,...

- In the code you've got array base [16] &base;

When you call the macro you pass a value like: %jnorm(myVar1, ...

The macro then executes and replaces all macro variables with the parameter value you've passed.
- array base [16] myVar1;

First the SAS macro language resolves and then "normal" SAS executes the code that has been generated.

If you have a working call to the macro then you can capture the generated SAS code using the MFILE option. After that it's just about understanding "normal" SAS code.
https://go.documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/mcrolref/p0j3zpinabl49ln13q5f5r1t46mg.htm 

filename mprint '<path of your choosing>/jnorm_gen.sas';
options MPRINT MFILE;
%jnorm(...and here comma separated list of parameter values);

[ChuksManuel]

Thanks. 

[ChuksManuel]

Do you by chance know what this code is doing?

if &first NE . then do;

In the macro 

%macro jorm (base, better, worse, first, y, raw);

I know base, better and worse are in the do loop, and are used to create Jorm scores.
y is the wave year (1990-2018)
raw is the raw dataset.
What is the "first" in the macro doing?

[Reeza]

&first is  a variable most likley. 

It does matter how it's defined in the macro call though, so &first is coming from the call which would translate to:

if someVariable is not missing then do.....