The next time you write a DATA step, try to express it in iambic pentameter. Or instead of a SAS macro function, how about a SAS macro sonnet? (Or, for the more base among you, a limerick?)
That's the spirit behind the code {poems} project. You write a poem in the programming language of your choice. The only requirement is that it must not be greater than half-a-kilobyte (no Hiawathas) and it must compile.
A programming language has syntax and semantics, and therefore can be as expressive as any spoken language. Right? Right! Unless it's LISP or assembly language (though I'll bet a few of you are up for that challenge).
The SAS language has more syntax and semantics than most programming language, so as a poetic medium it provides much more to work with. It's just one more way that you can take poetic license with SAS.
Here, I'll kick it off with a less-than-original rendition of a familiar ditty:
%let it=be; %let it=be; %let it=be; %let it=be; data Words_Of_Wisdom; let = be; run; |
4 Comments
...for which you'll get the note:
NOTE: Variable be is uninitialized.
And printing Words_Of_Wisdom will give you:
Obs let be
1 . .
Even the SAS log is poetic. Read it aloud to your sweetheart make her swoon.
As my wife and I are not newlyweds, I'm sure she would say something to the effect of: "Your words of wisdom are missing, so my swoon remains uninitialized."
Alas, that would probably result in "No output generated". This is why I do not write an agony column (or maybe I do, by some interpretation).