"A Close Look at How DOSUBL Handles Macro Variable Scope" by Quentin McMullen

[yabwon]

This is a recording from 10th meetup of Polish SAS Users Group (#PolSUG No. 10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgOdTufPtKw

The meeting took place on Wednesday, June 23rd 2021.

Our guest was Quentin McMullen ( @Quentin ).

His talk: "A Close Look at How DOSUBL Handles Macro Variable Scope" can be described as follows:

"The macro variable scoping rules of the SAS macro language are complex, and well-documented. The DOSUBL function, introduced in SAS 9.3M2, adds an additional layer of complexity to these scoping rules, as the macro programmer needs to understand how code executing in the DOSUBL side-session will create or update macro variables, and what impact this will have on macro variables stored in the main session symbol tables. Unfortunately, the current SAS documentation does not provide a clear definition of the DOSUBL scoping rules. This presentation presents a series of test cases designed to illustrate DOSUBL’s handling of macro variable scopes. The intended audience is experienced macro programmers interested in learning how DOSUBL manages macro variable scopes."

Details are available in Quentin's SAS Global Forum 2020 article: https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/s...

@AllanBowe @RichardDeVen @rogerjdeangelis @hashman @DonH @mkeintz @PeterClemmensen @novinosrin @ChrisNZ @Kurt_Bremser @data_null__ 

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#PolSUG #SAS #meetup #hobby #PolishSASUsersGroup #10

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[Quentin]

Thanks for sharing the recording, @yabwon .  I really enjoyed presenting to #PolSUG!

[ChrisNZ]

Cool presentation and cool discussion at the end. Thank you both!

[DonH]

Thx for posting this. Am just back from a trip so I will check it out later.

In the meantime, DOSUBL came into being because Rick Langston thought it would be a good idea to allow the mark up text processed by PROC STREAM to include embedded SAS code.

PROC STREAM came into existence when Rick agreed to build a better solution for my DATA Step hack for “SAS Server Pages.”

He and I had many long conversations about the complications of how to bring results (e.g., macro variables) back from the secondary/side SAS session.

And, my apologies, if any of what I just said is included in Quentin’s presentation.