How compatible is WPS with SAS?

How compatible is the WPS SAS-clone with the corresponding products from SAS I开发者_C百科nstitute? Has anyone tried it - if so: have you run into any compatibility issues?

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WPS has a good comparison document available on their website. It lists areas where WPS and SAS are compatible and where they are not. Start in http://www.teamwpc.co.uk/products/wps/language

I have tried it, although briefly and three years ago. I have a former co-worker that uses it exclusively as an alternative to SAS. He manages to function mostly without problems, but does run into some syntax related oddities on some of the more obscure procedures or functions.

WPS does offer a free trial, so you've nothing to lose with that. Give it a shot?

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I don't really have an answer, but have you tried SAS-L? I'm sure you'll find people there with strong opinions about this. Also there are a couple of threads available already, which might get you started.

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My 2 cents:

I've tried WPS for some time and it does indeed make for a SAS working substitute as long as you keep yourself from using some advanced stuff from the base language.

A few examples from my own experience:

• I wasn't able to use the CALL MODULE* family for calling win32 API functions.
• When reading one row at a time through FETCH() you cannot use CALL SET() for automatically initializing all the variables found in the input dataset.
• Some random errors using macros. Sorry I don't remember those in detail.

In a few words: if you have a working SAS installation, ask for a WPS trial and test if it fits your use. If it does, be sure it's a tremendous save in licensing.