I have Retired, the Sun is Shining, and the World has not Ended!! 10 Ways to Get the Most SAS Value from my Retirement…

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To me retirement only means not earning a salary from my SAS programming, which will, from now on, become a pure hobby. I will also be concentrating on programming using Altair Analytics Workbench and Altair SLC, rather than using SAS Software.

However, there are still ways for everyone to get SAS Value from my 40+ years of SAS programming:

No.1 = 1/2 day SAS training, including digital training materials, for GBP 1,800

No.2 = 1 month of confidential online support with unlimited questions for GBP 720

No.3 = 1 hour of 1-to-1 SAS video discussion for GBP 100

  • Book your hour of SAS video discussion.
  • Video discussions use Jitsi Meet, which is limited to 100 participants.
  • Topics include:
    • Base SAS syntax
    • Base SAS functions
    • Base SAS formats and informats
    • Base SAS procedures
    • Data step merging
    • PROC SQL syntax
    • PROC SQL merging
    • PROC SQL updating
    • Macro introduction
    • Macro syntax
    • Macro variables
    • ODS Graphics introduction
    • ODS Graphics procedures
    • Altair Analytics Workbench and Altair SLC introduction

No.4 = 1 confidential remote question for GBP 72

No.5 = 1 ebook copy of course notes to one of my SAS courses from around GBP 11

  • My SAS course notes are published as ebooks on Lulu.com, who, unlike Amazon, etc., do not take massive commissions, so I receive most of the published price.
  • See my Book Table for more details.

No.6 = 1 ebook copy of one of my SAS books directly from my blog site for around GBP 12.50

  • “Saving Time and Money using SAS” is no longer sold in softback, but you can download the ebook directly from my blog site.
  • See my Book Table for details of this and other ebooks.
  • More ebooks about Altair SLC are currently being developed.

No.8 = 3 months of subscription to the SAS Programming Forum, including access to my online SAS course collection, for 3 x GBP 5

  • Details of what the SAS Programming Forum is can be found here.
  • See how to subscribe to the SAS Programming Forum, including my online SAS course collection, here.

No.8 = 1 copy of one of my SAS paperback books from around GBP 10.25 or SAS ebooks from around GBP 4.75 from Lulu.com

  • See my Book Table for more details.
  • More books and ebooks about Altair SLC are currently being developed.

No.9 = 1 copy of one of my SAS softback books from a reseller from around GBP 25

  • Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from softback books sold, because I received an advance when they were published.
  • See my Book Table for more details.
  • More books about Altair SLC are currently being developed.

No.10 = 1 copy of one of my SAS ebooks from a reseller from around GBP 3

  • Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from ebooks sold by resellers, because I received an advance when they were published.
  • See my Book Table for more details.

After a day without my blog, I value the time to remind you that I am retiring at the end of 31Mar2025

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Yes, I am retiring from paid contracts on 31Mar2025, and my company (Holland Numerics Ltd) will be closed in a few months time.

However, retiring will never be as stressful as the blog server downtime (now resolved!) I experienced this weekend! I have been trying to create a “low maintenance” environment for my blog and ancillary activities, and I want to leave my blog members and clients still able to:

Asking questions can be done in a number of ways:

All this will continue, but will be supported by just myself, and not my company, after my retirement.

I am researching for 3 new Altair SLC books

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I am researching for 3 new Altair SLC books to add to my recently published book about Altair SLC. They will look into a range of aspects and programming using full licences, unlike my previous book that concentrated on the free Community Edition (now called the Personal Edition), and also more advanced aspects available in the Personal Edition, but not included in my previous book, such as Workflows, clinical data analysis and ODBC database connections.

What information would you like to read more about in the new books?

I have already been trying out the Communicate and Link features of Altair SLC, and hope to extend this to the Hub very soon.

My provisional book titles are:

  • Advanced Altair SLC
  • Altair SLC for Business Users
  • Altair SLC for Companies

Thanks in advance….…Phil

Altair Community post: I am researching for 3 new Altair SLC books

Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler (paperback)

Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler (paperback)

The book concentrates on Altair SLC, looking at the pros and cons of using Altair SLC to develop SAS programs. Code samples are provided throughout this book, so you can learn more about Altair SLC and SAS programming by following these examples.

Topics included:

  • What is Altair SLC?
  • Introduction to Altair Analytics Workbench
  • Altair SLC for Clinical Trials
  • Generating Graphics with Altair SLC
  • Using Altair SLC with R and Python

Download for free the SAS programs in this book from here.

Note: these chapters are included in SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User, so, if you have already purchased this book, then you already have these chapters!

Order Now!
About the Book

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The book concentrates on Altair SLC, looking at the pros and cons of using Altair SLC to develop SAS programs. Code samples are provided throughout this book, so you can learn more about Altair SLC and SAS programming by following these examples. Topics included:
  • What is Altair SLC?
  • Introduction to Altair Analytics Workbench
  • Altair SLC for Clinical Trials
  • Generating Graphics with Altair SLC
  • Using Altair SLC with R and Python
Download for free the SAS programs in this book from here. Note: these chapters are included in SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User, so, if you have already purchased this book, then you already have these chapters!
Details
Author: Philip R Holland
Genre: Computer Programming Language
Tags: Altair Analytics Workbench, Altair SLC, data step, graphics, ODS Graphics, PROC SGPLOT, programming, Python, R, Recommended Books, sas, VSCode, windows
Publisher: Lulu.com
Publication Year: 2024
Format: Paperback
Length: 104
List Price: £10.25
Phil has used SAS on all of the platforms, mainframe, UNIX, and Windows. If Mac was a platform, Phil would take you as reader there, too. He takes you to Altair SLC, R, and Python, where you can be a user of the SAS language, and those two ever more popular adjuncts to SAS, without the expense of a SAS licence, and clarifies the differences between SAS Software and Altair SLC. The book includes a graphics capabilities tour with the various tools in its scope. Nowhere else available is the chapter devoted to Altair SLC for Clinical Trials, which is like a book-guided Hands-On Workshop self-help get-acquainted tutorial. The book will take you to places that nobody else would take you. Explore it and explore SAS.
– LeRoy Bessler, Bessler Consulting and Research
Order Now
Buy from Lulu
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler (PDF) – Second Edition

Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler (PDF) – Second Edition

The book concentrates on Altair SLC, looking at the pros and cons of using Altair SLC to develop SAS programs. Code samples are provided throughout this book, so you can learn more about Altair SLC and SAS programming by following these examples.

Topics included:

  • What is Altair SLC?
  • Introduction to Altair Analytics Workbench
  • Altair SLC for Clinical Trials
  • Generating Graphics with Altair SLC
  • Using Altair SLC with R and Python

Download for free the SAS programs in this book from here.

Note: these chapters are included in SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User, so, if you have already purchased this book, then you already have these chapters!

Order Now!
About the Book

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The book concentrates on Altair SLC, looking at the pros and cons of using Altair SLC to develop SAS programs. Code samples are provided throughout this book, so you can learn more about Altair SLC and SAS programming by following these examples.

Topics included:

  • What is Altair SLC?
  • Introduction to Altair Analytics Workbench
  • Altair SLC for Clinical Trials
  • Generating Graphics with Altair SLC
  • Using Altair SLC with R and Python

Download for free the SAS programs in this book from here.

Note: these chapters are included in SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User, so, if you have already purchased this book, then you already have these chapters!

Details
Author: Philip R Holland
Genre: Computer Programming Language
Tags: Altair Analytics Workbench, Altair SLC, data step, graphics, ODS Graphics, PROC SGPLOT, programming, Python, R, Recommended Books, sas, VSCode, windows
Publisher: Lulu.com
Publication Year: 2025
Format: PDF
Length: 103
List Price: £5.50
eBook Price: £5.50
Phil has used SAS on all of the platforms, mainframe, UNIX, and Windows. If Mac was a platform, Phil would take you as reader there, too. He takes you to Altair SLC, R, and Python, where you can be a user of the SAS language, and those two ever more popular adjuncts to SAS, without the expense of a SAS licence, and clarifies the differences between SAS Software and Altair SLC. The book includes a graphics capabilities tour with the various tools in its scope. Nowhere else available is the chapter devoted to Altair SLC for Clinical Trials, which is like a book-guided Hands-On Workshop self-help get-acquainted tutorial. The book will take you to places that nobody else would take you. Explore it and explore SAS.
– LeRoy Bessler, Bessler Consulting and Research
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

3 new things I have learnt about Altair SLC this week

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  1. I have always wanted to create a neural network using the SAS language from the moment it was announced, but SAS software restricted this feature to paid-for components that I had no other use for. However, using features available in the free Personal Edition of Altair SLC and Altair Analytics Workbench, I have created a neural network to analyse the Iris data set, which uses PROC MLP, but I created it using pre-built nodes for a Workflow in Analytics Workbench.
  2. I have just watched a video demo from an Altair Employee on the Altair Community site about importing EG project files into Analytics Workbench Workflows. No version numbers were mentioned in or around this video, but it appears to be possible now, or at least soon!
  3. For business users the Linux installation of Altair SLC is treated as a server, rather than a workstation, installation. However, when I installed it I thought that the only way to access it would be as a server from a Windows-installed Analytics Workbench, but there is also a Linux version of Analytics Workbench available to business users, and it looks just like the Windows version.

More reasons to consider migrating from Foundation SAS to Altair SLC!

Keep your eyes open for more books about Altair SLC coming soon…

Using SAS Software or Altair SLC to read OpenDocument Spreadsheets

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Several years ago I wrote a conference paper about reading non‑standard spreadsheet files called “Help, I’ve Received a Spreadsheet File from StarOffice Calc…..!”, which explained how to extract the XML from a StarOffice Calc file, and then convert that XML into a SAS data set.

OpenDocument spreadsheet files can now be read with both Microsoft Office and LibreOffice (my preferred office suite), but a SAS program still has no way to read this file format directly.

I have now published a SAS program, which works in SAS Software and Altair SLC, to extract all of the individual XML sheets from an OpenDocument spreadsheet into their own SAS data sets. See the “SAS Hints and Tips” chapter in “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User” (both in paperback or PDF formats) for details about this SAS program.

Looking for a book about SAS programming? This may be where you will find it!

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ebooks sold on reseller sites often have unnecessary price mark-ups, so I prefer to provide ebook downloads directly from my blog site at reduced prices, where I get more income too, so it is a win-win situation for author and reader! Plus, there are 3 downloads allowed, so new editions can be downloaded later.

Note that all paperbacks that can be ordered from Lulu support this open-source publisher, and give the maximum income to the author. Paperback resellers, rather than publishers, like Amazon and Apple Books, are only really interested in their profits, so authors often get short-changed!

The following books written by Philip R Holland are available through this blog site. Click the price links for more information:

Title Paperback price (GBP) ebook* price (GBP) Download price (GBP) Pages
“SAS Programming Experiences” (2024) £18.25 £7.50 (PDF) £7.00 (PDF) 270
“Altair SLC” (2024) £10.25 £5.50 (PDF) £5.00 (PDF) 104
“SAS Programming and Data Visualization Techniques” (2015) around £45, but prices can vary across reseller platforms around £40 (Kindle, PDF, ePub), but prices can vary across reseller platforms 245
“Power User’s Guide to SAS Graph Templates” (2013) £3.75 (PDF) £3.00 (PDF) 109
“Power User’s Guide to SAS Programming” (2011) £3.50 (PDF)
£3.00 (ePub)
£3.00 (PDF) 90
“Saving Time and Money using SAS” (2007) £7.50 (PDF) 242

* Please note that code can only be copied from PDF ebooks!

Check out the Book Table to see all of the books about SAS programming there.

VIEWS News 76 (2024Q2) has been published!

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VIEWS News issue 76 has now been published.

This newsletter is the home of Foundation SAS and brings you information about making the most of SAS 9. This newsletter issue includes a macro that makes controlling graph text characteristics easy from LeRoy Bessler, Richard Carson completes his discussion about configuring of SAS processes without editing them in the sixth part of a series of articles about KT, and I have to admit that I delayed the publication of this newsletter to tell you about my 2 new books, which were finally published on 21Jun2024 (see https://hollandnumerics.org.uk/book-table/). As usual I have publicised some SAS‑related events for the next few months, and I have also added some more SAS formats, options and functions that you may or may not have come across before, but you might find interesting, and even useful.

If you would like to contribute an article, to re-visit and improve an existing article, or just discuss the possibility of doing so, please feel free to send an email to me at view-uk@hollandnumerics.org.uk or phil@hollandnumerics.org.uk. Publication deadlines are the 14th day of February, May, August and November each year.

To be able to read this and all previous issues you will need to follow these steps:

  1. If you have not already registered on this blog site, go to blog.hollandnumerics.org.uk and register for free membership.
  2. Once successfully registered, click the menu item [Subscriptions for Forums and Features] > [Request access to the VIEWS UK forum] to request free access to the VIEWS UK forum, then add your name and email address to the form before clicking [Send].
  3. On receipt of a request for an existing blog member I will register them for free access to the VIEWS UK forum, and then send them an email to confirm this.
  4. The next time they log onto the blog site they will see VIEWS UK in the forum list, where you will find the latest issue of VIEWS News, forum topics to find the backissues, functions and formats in every published issue, and a tag cloud covering every forum on the site to which you have access, including VIEWS UK and the VIEWS News issues.
  5. They will also be automatically informed of any VIEWS UK updates.

Enjoy!……………..Phil

Paperback book versions of my new books have been published on Lulu.com, which can be purchased at discounted prices until 05Jul2024

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I published paperback book versions of my new books, “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User” and a specific extract book about Altair SLC called “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler”, on 21Jun2024.

Note that everything in “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler” is included in “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User”, so purchasing both is not recommended, or necessary.

PDF ebook versions of my new books have been published on Lulu.com, but you can still download them at discounted prices from my blog site

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I published PDF ebook versions of my new books, “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User” and a specific extract book about Altair SLC called “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler”, on 13Jun2024.

Note that everything in “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler” is included in “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User”, so purchasing both is not recommended, or necessary.

Until the paperback versions are published on Lulu.com, the PDF ebooks downloaded from my blog site will be discounted, but prices will be adjusted as soon as the paperbacks have been published. This will probably be in early July 2024, after the physical printed proofs have been approved.

Download pre-publication copies of my new books at discounted prices

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I have released pre-publication copies of my new books, “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User” and a specific extract book about Altair SLC called “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler”, today.

Note that everything in “Altair SLC: The SAS Language Compiler” is included in “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User”, so purchasing both is not recommended.

Prices will be adjusted as soon as the books are published.

Are you interested in SAS Programming? Will you be near Milwaukee on 26 June 2024? Do you fancy meeting for lunch?

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On my way to spend a week on a Great Lakes cruise with my wife from Thursday 27 June 2024, I will be spending a day with LeRoy Bessler in Milwaukee on Wednesday 26 June 2024. We enjoy talking about SAS programming and books, so we will be meeting for an informal lunch in the Lobby Lounge at the Pfister Hotel around 12 midday, and if you would like to join us, then you will be very welcome.

Note that we do need to know whether you will be able to join us, not to order your lunch, as attendees will be expected to buy their own lunches, but to make sure the Lobby Lounge can accommodate everyone expected! Therefore, please email me at books@hollandnumerics.org.uk to confirm your attendance as soon as you can. If a change of venue is necessary, then everyone who has confirmed will be informed in advance, so you will not miss out.

LeRoy published his first book, “Visual Data Insights Using SAS ODS Graphics: A Guide to Communication-Effective Data Visualization”, in 2023, which concentrates on how to create graphs using ODS Graphics to communicate data.

I am desperately trying to publish my new book, “SAS Programming Experiences: A How-To Guide from a Power SAS User”, in time for this lunch, so it can be the official book launch event! I will confirm if this is going to happen closer to the lunch date, and confirmation will mean that my book will be available at a discounted launch price. LeRoy’s book and all of my published books can be bought through my blog site at the Book Table now.

I have been SAS programming for over 40 years, so this book (originally written to be my memoirs!) has 3 distinct sections:

  • SAS programming methods to make your programs easier to maintain. I like to write my SAS programs where they will cope nicely with any data!!
  • SAS programming interfaces to improve your programming environment, focusing on how SAS installs and editors have evolved over 40 years, Enterprise Guide, SAS Studio and ODS Graphics.
  • SAS alternatives, where I compare SAS software with Altair SLC, including how Altair SLC can create graphics and interface to open-source languages like R and Python.

Again, please email me at books@hollandnumerics.org.uk to confirm your attendance as soon as you can.

Thank you in advance!

Use it, or Lose it! 10 Ways of Getting the Most SAS Value from my Retirement…

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To me retirement only means not earning a salary from my SAS programming, which will, from now, become a pure hobby. However, to program in SAS AND to be able to get access to all of its components, including Enterprise Guide, batch processing, and the Program Editor, the SAS licence has to be paid for. For me this would amount to paying around GBP 3,000 a year, and so I have drawn up a list of ways that you can contribute to that total, but at the same time benefit from my 40+ years of SAS programming, and 30+ years as an independent SAS consultant, working in the banking, insurance, IT, pharmaceutical, HR and marketing business sectors, and on IBM mainframe, OS/2, VAX, Unix, Windows and Linux.

Any excess income will be used to extend my SAS licence into the following year. I’m planning to use this income from April 2025, so we now have a few months to raise sufficient funds.

-51Days remaining -12Hours -42Minutes -16Seconds

The following are grouped into group¹ (for companies or collaborating individuals) and individual² options:

For Companies or Collaborating Individuals¹:

No.1 = 1/2 day SAS training, including digital training materials, for GBP 1,800

No.2 = 1 month of confidential online support with unlimited questions for GBP 720

No.3 = 1 day of remote SAS programming for GBP 600

No.4 = 1 hour of 1-to-1 SAS video discussion for GBP 100

  • Book your hour of SAS video discussion.
  • Video discussions use Jitsi Meet, which is limited to 100 participants.
  • Topics include:
    • Base SAS syntax
    • Base SAS functions
    • Base SAS formats and informats
    • Base SAS procedures
    • Data step merging
    • PROC SQL syntax
    • PROC SQL merging
    • PROC SQL updating
    • Macro introduction
    • Macro syntax
    • Macro variables
    • ODS Graphics introduction
    • ODS Graphics procedures
    • Enterprise Guide introduction
    • SAS/Studio introduction

For Individuals²:

No.5 = 1 confidential remote question for GBP 72

No.6 = 1 ebook copy of course notes to one of my SAS courses from GBP 11

  • My SAS course notes are published as ebooks on Lulu.com, who, unlike Amazon, etc., do not take massive commissions, so I receive most of the published price.
  • See my Book Table for more details.

No.7 = 1 ebook copy of one of my SAS books directly from my blog site for GBP 12.50

  • “Saving Time and Money using SAS” is no longer sold in softback, but you can download the ebook directly from my blog site.
  • See my Book Table for more details.

No.8 = 3 months of subscription to the SAS Programming Forum, including access to my online SAS course collection, for 3 x GBP 5

  • Details of what the SAS Programming Forum is can be found here.
  • See how to subscribe to the SAS Programming Forum, including my online SAS course collection, here.

No.9 = 1 copy of one of my SAS paperback books from GBP 10.25 or SAS ebooks from GBP 4.75 from Lulu.com

No.10 = 1 copy of one of my SAS softback books from a reseller from GBP 25

  • Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from softback books sold, because I received an advance when they were published.
  • See my Book Table for more details.

No.11 = 1 copy of one of my SAS ebooks from a reseller from GBP 3

  • Although these options appear to be lower in the list than expected, I receive very little from ebooks sold by resellers, because I received an advance when they were published.
  • See my Book Table for more details.