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Improvements to the SAS-related ebook web apps

Over recent weeks I have been retiring my ebook apps from Google Play and Chrome Web Store (with Amazon Appstore apps due to be retired later this year) and updating the app links in my ebook web apps on this site. This will mean that you will always see the latest information in the app here, and they will be available on all platforms that support web browsing.

There are still a few content updates to do, like replacing SAS University Edition with SAS On-Demand for Academics, and adding more information about Altair SLC, but they will be made over time, along with other updates and new web apps.

Features of the web apps on this site:

Drop-down contents list.
Adjustable font size and text flow to fit the browser window with [A-] and [A+] buttons.
Page up [Pg+] and down [Pg-] buttons.
Emails generated from clickable code fragments.
Ask a new question [Ask?] button to generate emails with suggestions.
Some apps include an index too.

I realise that there are still some app users out there who will feel abandoned, so, for those who have never subscribed to the SAS Programming Forum, register for Free membership of this blog, email a screenshot of your app to sales@hollandnumerics.org.uk (or use the app’s [Ask?] button) and I will give you a month’s free access to the SAS Programming Forum and to the ebook web apps as a thank you for your support.

When you have logged into the blog, you will see menu items for the web apps based on your membership.

Warning: the apps themselves are restricted to only work when opened from these web lists, so adding the individual apps to your browser favourites will not be helpful!

Google Play and Chrome Webstore apps have been officially retired. Please use the web apps on my blog site instead.

Today I requested the removal of my Google Play and Chrome Webstore apps from their web catalogues, and their links have been removed from my blog site too. Existing installations should continue to work, until their platforms eventually change to make them incompatible, and, unfortunately, some apps have already been removed due to incompatibilities.

If you want to continue using similar apps, what can you do now?

The content in SAS course apps can be found in the SAS course in the SAS Professional Forum. Programming and Recruiting members who can access to the SAS Programming Forum will also have access to Informational web apps and LMS courses that also contain the SAS course content. There are also some sample web apps for Free members.
Educational apps can be accessed as web apps on this site by Educational Games, Programming and Recruiting members. There are also some sample web apps for Free members.
The major benefit of web apps is that the content will always be current, so updates and corrections can be accessed once completed without any user actions.
Amazon Appstore apps may still be accessed by Windows 11 users until late-2024, but Amazon-compatible Android apps can still be downloaded from this site to sideload into Amazon Appstore in Ubuntu on Windows (until late-2024) and also on Android platforms that have been setup to allow sideloading.

I’ve added the final topic of the SAS Macros course in the SAS course (in the SAS Programming Forum)

I’ve added the final topic of the SAS Macros course in the SAS course (in the SAS Programming Forum), and it describes some of the syntax used in SAS Macros processing.

I have added, for those who don’t want to follow the course but would prefer to read the course notes, a copy of course notes as a downloadable PDF ebook, and I have now published Android ebook apps with the same content on Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

As other SAS courses are finalised I will be publishing them as PDF ebooks and Android apps too.

Please enjoy if you’ve subscribed to the SAS Programming Forum.

How good are you at calculating in your head? Are you calculator-dependent?

Improving mental arithmetic (calculating in your head) has been a long-term quest for me. My 3 daughters were subjected to numerical puzzle questions whenever we were on long journeys, and now none of them routinely use calculators, unless absolutely necessary.

I used to develop JavaScript-based apps for the webOS platforms in Palm and HP devices, and created a number of mental arithmetic apps. I’ve recently found the time to re-engineer some of them to work on Android devices, and the following apps can now be found on Google Play and Amazon Appstore:

Arithmetic Brain – 8 different levels of 10 randomly generated questions about addition, subtraction and multiplication. Here are the links to Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

Multiply Brain – 19 different levels of 10 randomly generated questions on multiplication from x2 to x20. Here are the links to Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

Decimal Brain – 8 different levels of 10 randomly generated questions about decimal addition, subtraction and multiplication. Here are the links to Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

Fraction Brain – 4 different levels of 10 randomly generated questions about fraction addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Here are the links to Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

Full details about what is included in each Android app can be found on each app page.

Are you dreaming of an Android Christmas?

Most of you will know that I have been a SAS programmer for over 30 years, but I also use other programming languages too. The first language I learnt was FORTRAN IV while I was an undergraduate at the University of York, with which I wrote the mark-up language that I used to format my thesis, and I also played with BASIC while I was at university. More recently I have developed functionality for my web sites in JavaScript, Java and Perl, and created Enterprise Guide Add-ins in VB.Net.

However, when I bought my first smartphone, a Palm Pre, in 2010, I discovered that I could write my own apps for its operating system webOS in JavaScript, and joining the webOS developer group was free. This gave me my first experience of selling apps for smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately webOS did not survive very long after HP bought Palm, so I branched out into writing apps in JavaScript for Chrome browsers, and for Android devices in Java. Now even the Chrome Web Store is no longer accepting new or updated apps, so I am left with just developing for Android devices.

My core Android apps are a series of what I call ebook apps focusing on SAS programming. They were originally developed in JavaScript for webOS, but have ported fairly well to Java, and each contains a collection of rich text “ebook” pages that display automatically scaled and formatted text and images to match your own device dimensions and orientation. You can also email out the code samples and ask new questions for future releases. The Google Play and Amazon Appstore functionality to update installed versions of these apps means that any new or updated pages are automatically sent to existing app users.

Every now and then I get “bright” ideas for games and educational apps. A number of my existing Chrome browser apps are about improving mental arithmetic, which I see as becoming a lost skill. There are 3 apps available in the Chrome Web Store called Arithmetic Brain Quest, Multiply Brain Quest and Fraction Brain Quest. Each game randomly generates 10 questions in the different categories, which must be answered correctly in the allotted to build a pile of blocks to reach the top of the screen, with a high score saved for each category.

There are also some Android puzzle solver and game apps which can be downloaded directly from my blog site, because the Google Play and Amazon Appstore functionality is not required when these apps are in their final versions. The puzzle solver apps are to help you develop or solve puzzles you may see in newspapers, magazines and on-line for Sudoku 6×6, Sujiko and Master Sujiko.

My most recent game apps are based on a board game created by Tri-Ang in 1970 called Check-Lines. The board had 11 holes joined by straight lines, and 2 players had 5 pieces each with the aim of placing them to form 2 straight lines of 3 pieces each, so 1 piece was part of both lines like an X, L, V or T. The game starts with an empty board and the players take turns to place their pieces in empty holes, and then, when all the pieces are on the board, moving one of their pieces along a straight line into the empty hole until 2 lines are created, or no move is possible. I have created 2 apps, one is a free “dumb” app Check-Lines Board which just enforces the rules, and the other app Play Check-Lines uses a simple AI to provide the 2nd player with hints, as shown in the screenshot.

Whatever you are doing at this time of the year I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Are you interested in SAS macros or SAS efficiency? I’ve updated both apps in Google Play and Amazon Appstore

Are you interested in SAS macros or SAS programming efficiency? I’ve updated my Android apps focusing on both these topics in Google Play and Amazon Appstore.

New app updates available in Google Play and Amazon Appstore

Android 8.0 is coming very soon, so I have started preparing my apps for this new platform, while still maintaining the same functionality for Android versions back to 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). However, I will not be further updating my Chrome apps, as the Chrome Web Store has stopped accepting new apps, and is likely to stop hosting existing apps soon too.

The first paid-for app to be updated for Android 8.0, including 6 more questions, is:

Studio: Do This in SAS? (Google Play)
Studio: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Amazon Appstore)

and the 2 free apps, including samples from the other apps:

How Do You Do This in SAS? (Google Play and Amazon Appstore)
Consulting: Do This in SAS? (Google Play)
Consulting: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Amazon Appstore)

Update to more of my Android apps will follow shortly.

This is quick reminder that I still have the following apps available in Google Play:

Data Steps: Do This in SAS?
SQL: Do This in SAS?
Graphs: Do This in SAS?
Platforms: Do This in SAS?
EG: Do This in SAS?
Macros: Do This in SAS?
Efficiency: Do This in SAS?
Studio: Do This in SAS?

These apps are also available for Android users in the Amazon Appstore:

Data Steps: How Do You Do This in SAS?
SQL: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Graphs: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS?
EG: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Macros: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Efficiency: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Studio: How Do You Do This in SAS?

There are also free apps, which you can find by searching in each app store:

How Do You Do This in SAS? (Google Play and Amazon Appstore)
Consulting: Do This in SAS? (Google Play)
Consulting: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Amazon Appstore)

All these apps are updated frequently, and the paid-for apps are priced at less than US$3 based on the number of questions that are answered, and within the apps you can ask new questions that can be added in future updates. It doesn’t matter which platform you use, as the same content is present in the corresponding Google Play and Amazon Appstore apps.

Reminder that I still have the SAS-related apps available in Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store

This is quick reminder that I still have the following apps available in Google Play:

Data Steps: Do This in SAS?
SQL: Do This in SAS?
Graphs: Do This in SAS?
Platforms: Do This in SAS?
EG: Do This in SAS?
Macros: Do This in SAS?
Efficiency: Do This in SAS?
Studio: Do This in SAS?

These apps are also available for Android users in the Amazon Appstore, or for Chrome and Chromium desktop browser users in the Chrome Web Store:

Data Steps: How Do You Do This in SAS?
SQL: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Graphs: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS?
EG: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Macros: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Efficiency: How Do You Do This in SAS?
Studio: How Do You Do This in SAS?

There are also free apps, which you can find by searching in each app store:

How Do You Do This in SAS? (Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store)
Consulting: Do This in SAS? (Google Play)
Consulting: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store)

The apps “Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS?” have recently been updated on Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store.

“Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at SAS platform-dependencies on Windows, UNIX, Linux and z/OS. This paid-for app has had some of the answer text updated to include SAS 9.4 and Windows 10.

I’ve now updated my “Platforms” apps, which can be installed from Platforms: Do This in SAS? (Google Play), Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Amazon Appstore), or Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS? (Chrome Web Store), depending on your preferred platform.

The latest versions of all my apps can be found here.

I’ve updated my app about Graphs again

I would certainly recommend installing my Graphs app sooner, rather than later, as the next time I add a new question the price will have to be increased. It can be installed now from Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store, depending on your preferred platform.

“Graphs: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at generating graphs using classic SAS/GRAPH and the new ODS Graphics. I’ve added a question that looks at how an information box (graph inset) can be added to line graphs in ODS Graphics, as compared to using Annotate in SAS/GRAPH.

The latest versions of all the apps can be found here.

4 newly updated apps about Enterprise Guide, SAS macros, platforms and graphs

I’ve now updated my remaining four apps, which can all be installed from Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store, depending on your preferred platform.

“EG: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at writing and running SAS programs using Enterprise Guide. This paid-for app has had some of the answer text updated, including a link to this blog.

“Macros: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at SAS macros. This paid-for app has had some of the answer text updated, including a link to this blog.

“Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at SAS platform-dependencies on Windows, UNIX, Linux and z/OS. This paid-for app has had some of the answer text updated, including a link to this blog.

“Graphs: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at generating graphs using classic SAS/GRAPH and the new ODS Graphics. This paid-for app now includes information about how to annotate stacked bar charts in ODS Graphics.

The latest versions of all the apps can be found here.

Newly updated apps about Efficiency and SAS Studio

Because of the heavy traffic in London the locals complain that “you wait ages for a bus, then 2 arrive at the same time!”. I hope you don’t complain in the same way when I write two blogs posts within days of each other, but I find that this often happens when I get a little spare time to work on my apps.

Unlike in my previous post, these two apps are not in any way related to each other, apart from being named 12 and 13 in my list. Both apps can be installed from Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Chrome Web Store, depending on your preferred platform.

“Efficiency: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at how to improve SAS efficiency, whether efficiency means speed of execution, ease of maintenance, or both. This paid-for app has had some of the answer text updated.

“Studio: How Do You Do This in SAS?” looks at the installation, configuration and uses of SAS Studio and SAS University Edition. This paid-for app now includes links about the licensing limits for using SAS University Edition, along with a summary of those restrictions.

The latest versions of all the apps can be found here.