RE: SAS program or SAS macro to prepare NonMem ready data
From: "Bachman, William (MYD)" bachmanw@iconus.com
Subject: RE: [NMusers] SAS program or SAS macro to prepare NonMem ready data
Date: Thu, December 9, 2004 10:22 am
I don't really see a need to choose one program over the other, at least
not in an all or none sense. In the realm of dataset preparation, SAS, in
my opinion, is superior to S-Plus. It is the overall industry standard, it
does handle large data sets better than S-Plus and statisticians and data
management people have a long history with it. On the down-side, $A$ gouges
the industry on a yearly basis.
In favor of S-Plus, it has a strong foothold in the population analysis niche
primarily because it has fabulous graphics capabilities. On the Windows platform,
you buy it once and you own it (as long as you don't want or need to upgrade). The
language is very powerful but the learning curve is VERY steep. But like SAS you
can script it to automate procedures and if you have an in-house S-Plus guru - don't
let him leave! (S-Plus scripts perform the same function as SAS macros with respect
to documentation of process).
Bottom line, use the best tool for the particular problem.