Nichols SPSS Macros in PYTHON

[Kam T]

Hello SPSS users,
Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!
Is anyone aware whether the macros by David Nichols (ftp://ftp.spss.com/pub/spss/statistics/nichols/macros/) have been recoded into python? Or anyone have an idea of how to use them in an spss.submit block of syntax? Thanks in advance.

--
-K.

[Albert-Jan Roskam]

>> Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!

 

Macro language is simple string substitution which is not powerful at all. It hardly allows for any level of abstraction. Python, on the other hand, is very powerful and one of the most readable languages around. Often, 'macros' in Python are way much easier to write and read. Plus you can do way more things, which makes things more reproducable (no manual steps). Spss macros are a maintenance nightmare, esp. when they're slightly more advanced.

 

That's my humble opinion. ;-)


Cheers!!
Albert-Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
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--- On Wed, 6/16/10, K T <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: K T <[hidden email]>
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Nichols SPSS Macros in PYTHON
To: [hidden email]
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 12:09 AM

Hello SPSS users,
Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!
Is anyone aware whether the macros by David Nichols (ftp://ftp.spss.com/pub/spss/statistics/nichols/macros/) have been recoded into python? Or anyone have an idea of how to use them in an spss.submit block of syntax? Thanks in advance.

--
-K.

[Garry Gelade]

Dear KT

 

I have to disagree with you here. In my opinion, implementing Python was a stroke of genius, and the best thing to happen to SPSS in a long time!

 

For many years, SPSS was an unresponsive and unhelpful company selling an overpriced and inflexible product, and they didn’t ‘do’ customer service because they had a large captive user base.

 

Although the company improved somewhat, I think the introduction of Python (and the splendid John Peck) brought about a step change in the relationship between the company and its users. There is now an ongoing dialogue which I have found very helpful.  Without that, I’d have migrated to Stata by now.

 

FWIW my advice is – Embrace the Python Revolution!

 

Garry Gelade

Business Analytic Ltd

 

From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of K T
Sent: 15 June 2010 23:09
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Nichols SPSS Macros in PYTHON

 

Hello SPSS users,
Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!
Is anyone aware whether the macros by David Nichols (ftp://ftp.spss.com/pub/spss/statistics/nichols/macros/) have been recoded into python? Or anyone have an idea of how to use them in an spss.submit block of syntax? Thanks in advance.

--
-K.

[Daniel J. Robertson]

See Chapter 21 of the SPSS Programming and Data Management book for tips on migrating syntax and macros to Python. It’s available at http://www.spss.com/devcentral/. To echo the other comments, I’ve found the Python capability extremely useful and far more intuitive than the old macro language.

 

--

Daniel Robertson

Senior Research and Planning Associate

Institutional Research and Planning

Cornell University / irp.cornell.edu

 

From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of K T
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 6:09 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Nichols SPSS Macros in PYTHON

 

Hello SPSS users,
Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!
Is anyone aware whether the macros by David Nichols (ftp://ftp.spss.com/pub/spss/statistics/nichols/macros/) have been recoded into python? Or anyone have an idea of how to use them in an spss.submit block of syntax? Thanks in advance.

--
-K.

[Raynald Levesque]

Python is at least 1000 times stronger than macros. I am grateful to SPSS for having introduced it.

Raynald Levesque
www.spsstools.net

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 3:46 AM, Albert-Jan Roskam <[hidden email]> wrote:

>> Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!

 

Macro language is simple string substitution which is not powerful at all. It hardly allows for any level of abstraction. Python, on the other hand, is very powerful and one of the most readable languages around. Often, 'macros' in Python are way much easier to write and read. Plus you can do way more things, which makes things more reproducable (no manual steps). Spss macros are a maintenance nightmare, esp. when they're slightly more advanced.

 

That's my humble opinion. ;-)


Cheers!!
Albert-Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- On Wed, 6/16/10, K T <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: K T <[hidden email]>
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Nichols SPSS Macros in PYTHON
To: [hidden email]
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 12:09 AM

Hello SPSS users,
Why in God's name did SPSS get mixed up with PYTHON!
Is anyone aware whether the macros by David Nichols (ftp://ftp.spss.com/pub/spss/statistics/nichols/macros/) have been recoded into python? Or anyone have an idea of how to use them in an spss.submit block of syntax? Thanks in advance.

--
-K.