What is the SAS Programming Forum and why does it cost to access?

Loading

It is rather sad that everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing! I have paraphrased this statement somewhat from the original written by Oscar Wilde for Lord Darlington in “Lady Windemere’s Fan”, but the reality is very much in evidence everywhere today. But how is that relevant to the SAS Programming Forum?

I wanted to create a place where students of SAS programming (which includes myself, as I try to learn something new about SAS every day) could ask SAS-related questions, even if they were from interviews or homework, without being criticised. However, I wanted to exclude those asking questions because they were too lazy to research the answers themselves (#LAZYWEB), so I hoped that charging a small amount to access the forum would filter out those trying to get free information with no effort, but encourage those enthusiastic enough to pay to learn about SAS an opportunity to do so. The SAS Programming Forum subscription is only GBP 5.00 per month for up to 3 months via PayPal, so it can be stopped at any time, but also renewed easily, and includes access to my SAS course about SAS programming topics, which I’m progressively building, and currently includes 4 sections on SAS components, Data Steps, PROC SQL and SAS macros, and now totals 25 topics in all. The sections are intended to be read sequentially, but are, for the most part, independent of each other. The key feature of the SAS Programming Forum and the SAS course is that questions can be asked at any time and they will be answered, provided sufficient information is given in the question. This is not a “get out” clause, but a learning point for all prospective SAS programmers that without sufficient information you cannot write a SAS program that meets the customer’s needs, so you have to be able to ask question yourself!

A new sub-section of the SAS macros section about calling macros has been added to the SAS course

Loading

The SAS course and the SAS Programming Forum continue to grow, I have just started a new course sub-section about calling SAS macros, and there are now 24 topics in 4 different sections:

  • [A] SAS components – 2 topics
  • Data Steps – 13 topics
  • [F] PROC SQL – 6 topics
  • [G] Macros – 3 topics (1 new topic!)

The SAS course topics themselves are in the SAS Programming Forum, which can only be accessed by Programmer level members, but Free members can read the SAS course – Home page and see the individual topic names.

More topics and sections are being developed, so register for free now to be kept up-to-date about all of the news, so you can take advantage of the Programmer level when it suits you best!

The SAS macros section has been added to the SAS course

Loading

The SAS course and the SAS Programming Forum continue to grow, I have just added a new course section about SAS macros, and there are now 23 topics in 4 different sections:

  • [A] SAS components – 2 topics
  • Data Steps – 13 topics
  • [F] PROC SQL – 6 topics
  • [G] Macros – 2 topics (2 new topics!)

The SAS course topics themselves are in the SAS Programming Forum, which can only be accessed by Programmer level members, but Free members can read the SAS course – Home page and see the individual topic names.

More topics and sections are being developed, so register for free now to be kept up-to-date about all of the news, so you can take advantage of the Programmer level when it suits you best!

2 new prize draw winners of my most recent SAS book!

Loading

SAS_Programming_and_Data_Visualization_book(285x285)

There were 2 new prize draw winners of my most recent SAS book in the last few weeks, with the 2 prize draws held at the SAS Forum UK in Birmingham at the end of September 2016, and at the PhUSE Conference in Barcelona this month.

Congratulations to Charlotte King who won my new book in the Prize Draw at the SAS Forum UK in Birmingham
September 2016: Congratulations to Charlotte King who won my new book in the Prize Draw at the SAS Forum UK in Birmingham

wp-1476362668405.jpeg
October 2016: Congratulations to Cathal Gallagher who won my new book in the Prize Draw at the PhUSE Conference in Barcelona

Free draw for my book at PhUSE in Barcelona

Loading

Would you like to win a copy of my latest book “SAS Programming and Data Visualization Techniques”?

Are you attending the 2016 PhUSE Conference in Barcelona between 9 and 12 October?

SAS_Programming_and_Data_Visualization_book(285x285)

If the answer to both these questions is Yes, then visit the CK Clinical stand in the Exhibitors Area at the conference and take your business card, or write your name and email address on the cards provided, and drop it into the box. The draw will be made towards the end of the conference and you could win a sealed copy of my book. I’ll sign it for you too, if you want!

There will also be a copy for you to read at the stand, so you’ll be able to see whether it is worth the risk!  😉

Apologies for my blog server crash – normal service has now been restored

Loading

I suspect many of you will have a “bucket list”, a list of places you would really like to visit and activities you would like to do. I have bucket list myself, which included visiting the Alhambra in Granada in Southern Spain.  Last week my wife and I joined a tour of Andalusia, which included a visit to the Alhambra on the first day, where we enjoyed the splendour of the Moorish palace.

Little did I know at the time, but just after we had left for our tour my blog server switched itself off. I have still not determined the exact reason for the crash, but I think it could have been a local power cut that caused the shutdown. Anyway, I was 900 miles away with no remote access to the server, so I had to relax and enjoy the rest of the tour. On returning to the UK it was simply a matter of restarting the server, and normal service was restored in a few minutes.

I will conclude with some simple questions for you. I could have bought and installed an uninterruptible power supply to the server, which would have, hopefully, prevented the crash. However, I would not have been able to tell you about my bucket list!

My questions for you are:

  • What is the value of a blog, more or less than the cost of purchasing and running an uninterruptible power supply, or flying back to fix it?
  • Would a week where the blog is unavailable affect its value?
  • Should I have told you all about the crash immediately, or when it was fixed?

I’m presenting “Using SAS Studio Tasks to Plot with ODS Graphics” at the SAS Forum UK in Birmingham on 27Sep2016

Loading

I’m presenting “Using SAS Studio Tasks to Plot with ODS Graphics” at the SAS Forum UK in Birmingham on 27Sep2016. You can download my paper and presentation from here.

Hope to see you in Birmingham.

The SAS Programming Forum is growing: a new SAS course topic posted and another SAS question answered

Loading

The SAS course and the SAS Programming Forum continue to grow, I have just added a new course topic about the PROC SQL data set combining, and there are now 21 topics in 3 different sections:

  • [A] SAS components – 2 topics
  • Data Steps – 13 topics
  • [F] PROC SQL – 6 topics (1 new topic!)

The SAS course topics themselves are in the SAS Programming Forum, which can only be accessed by Programmer level members, but Free members can read the SAS course – Home page and see the individual topic names.

I’ve also added an answer to a new SAS-related question in the SAS Programming Forum about re-ordering data sets without using PROC SORT. Again this topic can only be accessed by Programmer level members.

More topics and sections are being developed, so register for free now to be kept up-to-date about all of the news, so you can take advantage of the Programmer level when it suits you best!

Another new post in the SAS course making a total of 20 topics in 3 sections

Loading

The SAS course continues to grow, I have just added a new topic about the PUT statement, and there are now 20 topics in 3 different sections:

  • [A] SAS components – 2 topics
  • Data Steps – 13 topics (1 new topic!)
  • [F] PROC SQL – 5 topics

The SAS course topics themselves can only be accessed by Programmer level members, but Free members can read the SAS course – Home page and see the individual topic names.

More topics and sections are being developed, so register for free now to be kept up-to-date about all of the news, so you can take advantage of the Programmer level when it suits you best!

The SAS course now has 19 topics in 3 sections

Loading

The SAS course continues to grow, and now has 19 topics in 3 different sections:

  • [A] SAS components – 2 topics
  • Data Steps – 12 topics (1 new topic!)
  • [F] PROC SQL – 5 topics

The SAS course topics themselves can only be accessed by Programmer level members, but Free members can read the SAS course – Home page and see the individual topic names.

More topics and sections are being developed, so register for free now to be kept up-to-date about all of the news, so you can take advantage of the Programmer level when it suits you best!

I’ve added an explanation of what each membership level can do

Loading

The most up-to-date version of the following table can be found here, but with extra links there to help you register for the correct membership level on this site. Each membership level builds on the previous level, so for each successive level the blue boxes highlight the new areas and access added:

Membership level Blog & Forums Access
Not logged in Blog posts Read
SAS Skills Discussion Forum Read linked topics only
SAS Job Listings Read
Free membership Blog posts Read & Comment
SAS Skills Discussion Forum Read and Write Topics & Reply
SAS Job Listings Read
Programmer membership (includes Free membership) Blog posts Read & Comment
SAS Skills Discussion Forum Read and Write Topics & Reply
SAS Programming Forum Read and Write Topics & Reply
SAS course Read Topics & Reply
SAS Job Listings Read
Recruiter membership (includes Programmer membership) Blog posts Read & Comment
SAS Skills Discussion Forum Read and Write Topics & Reply
SAS Programming Forum Read and Write Topics & Reply
SAS course Read Topics & Reply
SAS Job Listings Read & Post New Jobs