Anyone learning about SAS can take advantage of the SAS University Edition. This can be downloaded to your Windows or Linux platform as a free virtual machine compatible with VirtualBox or VMware Player (both free too!), or accessed online through an Amazon AWS environment (also free!). Full details about what you need to do can be found at http://www.sas.com/en_us/software/university-edition.html. Just follow the Get free software link on this web page.
Note that this version of SAS must only be used for learning about SAS, and is not intended for commercial use. The full list of permitted uses for the SAS University Edition can be found here.
You can use SAS University Edition with all of the topics in the SAS course on this site, except SAS Enterprise Guide.
While I have been working on the final topic(s) for the Data Steps section of the SAS course on the FILE & PUT statements, I have read a number of questions on the web about PROC SQL syntax. I was not going to start this section until somewhat later, but I have decided to publish the first few topics to explain some of the most useful PROC SQL syntax, so look out for the following topics in the next few weeks:
You will need to have, at least, Free membership of my SAS blog to access the SAS course home page, which is made up of sections containing SAS-related topics, with new topics and sections posted over time.
The SAS course now has 2 sections, updated with 2 new topics (about formats and informats) and another extended topic (about DO loops, including information about arrays) available, making a total of 10 topics in the SAS Programming Forum. Note that the course topics themselves are not available to registered members with Free membership, so to upgrade your membership please click here.
More topics and sections are being developed, so register now for free to be kept informed about all of the news…
The following SAS keywords are recognized even if you don’t spell them correctly:
DATA = dat, dta, daa, ddata, date*
RUN = ru, rn, rnu, urn, ruin, runt*
PROC = pro, prc, poc, porc, pric
QUIT = qut, qui, quti, qit, quite, quiet
SET = sett, sent*
FILE = fil, fill*
OUTPUT = outputsomething, outputnothing*
IF = fi*
THEN = the*
DO = doo*
PUT = putit, putting*
INPUT = imput
END = endit*
This behaviour can be controlled using OPTIONS AUTOCORRECT from SAS 9.3 onwards. To maintain this behaviour use OPTIONS AUTOCORRECT to show warnings in the log, but allow the program to continue, which is the default. OPTIONS NOAUTOCORRECT will show an error in the log at the first incorrect spelling, and then stop the program.
“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 seen self-paced SAS courses for around $125 / R.7,000. My new course will be priced at £5 (about $7 / R.475) per month and details can be found here, and you’ll be able to ask me any questions you need answers to at the same time, so it will be cheaper to become a member for 12 months than register for just one self-paced course!
Course topics during the year will include:
Data Steps
PROC SQL
Macros
PROC REPORT
PROC TABULATE
Reading databases
Reading text files
ODS destinations
ODS GRAPHICS
Performance considerations
Platform differences
The first two topics from the course looking generally at SAS components have been published today:
This will be the first PhUSE SDE to be held in the Netherlands since the first SDE was held in Switzerland in 2008, and will focus on Data Visualization. I will be presenting a paper on my favourite SAS-related topic of ODS Graphics entitled “Converting Plots from SAS/GRAPH to ODS Graphics”.
To celebrate the publication of my latest book “SAS Programming and Data Visualization Techniques: A Power User’s Guide”, you will be able to win a copy in a free prize draw to be held on the day.
You have a certificate from SAS saying you can program, and you have been offered a job as a SAS programmer. Well done! So what happens now?
Hopefully your new employer will arrange for SAS training for you, and then you’ll be given a computer to run your SAS programs on. If you are lucky you’ll be in a team of SAS programmers where some are experienced enough to assist you. However, your team may only include inexperienced programmers like yourself, so how do you get answers to your questions?
Do:
(1) Research: Search Google for possible answers to your questions. This may produce links to http://support.sas.com or http://www.lexjansen.com, so try these links first.
(2) Experiment: Try out these suggestions to see which work for your situation.
(3) Discuss: Talk about these solutions with your colleagues.
Do not:
(1) Delegate: Post vague questions on forums in the hope that someone will write your program for you. You will never improve your skills by using someone else to do it for you.
(2) Break copyright: Post any company data on the web or in external emails.
(3) Reveal: Ask questions on the web which may reveal confidential information about your employers or clients. It is also recommended that you never post your email address or phone number either, because they could be used to spam you, or even to spam others looking as if you are doing it.
Once you have a working SAS program, and this may take a while to achieve, remember to re-visit it regularly with a view to improving it using knowledge you’ve gained over time. No program is ever perfect, but your aim should be to approach perfection with each amendment.
So how do you gain SAS knowledge? The SAS certification questions and answers cover only a tiny fraction of what SAS can do. The temptation is to stick to what you know, but this will never allow you to improve your SAS programming, so read the SAS blogs, SAS-related forums and SAS conference papers regularly, and then try out the new techniques to learn new stuff all the time. This should never end. I’ve been using SAS since 1981 and I’m still learning new stuff about SAS every day!
SAS Programming and Data Visualization Techniques: A Power User’s Guide brings together a wealth of ideas about strategic and tactical solutions to everyday situations experienced when transferring, extracting, processing, analyzing, and reporting the valuable data you have at your fingertips. Best, you can achieve most of the solutions using the SAS components you already license, meaning that with this book’s insights can keep you from throwing money at problems needlessly.
The following SAS-related ebook apps have recently been published on Android devices (Google Play [name in brackets] and Amazon Appstore) and Chrome and Chromium browsers (Chrome Web Store):
How Do You Do this in SAS? – free functional sample app – version 2.4
Consulting: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Consulting: Do This in SAS?] – free samples from the paid apps – version 1.2
Data Steps: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Data Steps: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about Data Steps – version 3.3
SQL: How Do You Do This in SAS? [SQL: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about PROC SQL – version 2.3
Graphs: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Graphs: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about SAS/GRAPH and ODS Graphics – version 1.5
Platforms: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Platforms: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about using SAS on Windows, UNIX, Linux, and z/OS, with differences caused by 32-bit and 64-bit versions too – version 3.5
EG: How Do You Do This in SAS? [EG: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about Enterprise Guide – version 2.4
Macros: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Macros: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about SAS Macros – version 2.3
Efficiency: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Efficiency: Do This in SAS?} – Q&A about SAS programming efficiency – version 2.4
Studio: How Do You Do This in SAS? [Studio: Do This in SAS?] – Q&A about SAS Studio and SAS University Edition – version 1.1
Just search on your preferred Android or Chrome platform for “Do This in SAS”, and you should find these 10 apps. Note that any new updates may increase the prices of these apps, so, if you buy them now, you will pay nothing more for upgrades!
