Well really, the gumption, you’re probably thinking—sharing tips with seasoned SAS Global Forum participants! I’m excited beyond measure, thrilled and a little nervous to be presenting in San Francisco. Yes, I know I’m a Global Forum first-timer, but with your permission, I’d like to offer some tips that I've found
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To optimize a Structured Query Language (SQL), the database professional must befriend this order and perhaps even embrace it. Who is your best friend? I’m talking about the order in which SQL processes your statements. Simply put, in what order does SQL do your work? (From my previous post you
‘Tis the season to be gifting! So what could be better than gifting your fellow SAS user or yourself with three gifts to celebrate the holiday season? As 2012 comes to an end, we think it’s a great idea to be thinking of ringing in the New Year with dynamic
I recently had a student in a SAS Enterprise Guide class declare that EG was the next best thing since sliced bread. I couldn't have agreed with her more! In this post, I‘ll share four ways where EG outperforms SAS code –yes I know you’re a codeaholic dear reader, but these reasons
"I want everything!" said a student when I paused to ask my SAS Programming 1 class what else they wanted to learn. Seriously! You want me to share everything I know in three days? The student came back with... "Well okay, what about those freebies you mentioned?" That’s how it all
Wondering why technology is such a big deal and why working with SAS will be in demand forever? The great blackout of Toronto in 2003 proved that so well. We could barely survive without electricity for a whole day. While breakdowns make us acutely aware of our dependence, technology also
What tiny looking operator packs a mighty punch with large datasets? Your queries are big. Your reports span multiple columns. To top it all you have to summarize data in multiple ways. Are you tempted to throw in the towel? Do you feel like saying a firm “Can’t be done”
How can you go home on time? Take a quick tour with these 5 tips that I was able to summarize for my students in the SAS SQL 1: Essentials class yesterday. Since they found it handy and asked if it could become a blog post, I thought I’d share
The 25 boys I teach on Sundays loved these cupcakes I baked for them for Easter… the sugared peeps had them completely satisfied. I love my tea or coffee laced with sugar. I think you‘d all agree that it is always more pleasant to meet a nice customer service person
Did that set off a trigger for you? It did for my SAS SQL 1: Essentials class, packed with SQL and SAS programmers alike. To clarify matters I pulled up some examples to help get the differences quickly. Set operators and Joins are similar in that they both combine multiple
This question came up while helping my presales colleague with a client’s question: “Is Microsoft Excel in direct competition with SAS?” Not really. I like to think of SAS as partnering with Excel. Because of the following Excel benefits and its synergy with SAS. Excel has been around for years.
How we love shortcuts. Our life seems more efficient with them. I try to take the earlier train for a good parking spot that lets me exit early. Actually change that to any spot (my train station has tons of commuters with FEW parking spaces so getting up early is the
“Do you really serve M&Ms every Wednesday? Tell us the story!” clamored a wide-eyed class after sampling the M&Ms lighting up the breakout area. Seeing how hard they worked on their exercises, it seemed ok to have a slight diversion from technology. Besides as you’ll find out, the story has
It’s mid-afternoon. Day 2 of the PRG2 class. Students return satiated from lunch. Some slipped into this course without taking PRG1 so they missed out on some basics. I’m trying to explain how SAS thinks. I use slides, draw pix, do everything except break into dance to get their attention.
Picture this – a student grabs the Programming 1 textbook, scans it quickly seemingly searching for something specific, and shakes his head indicating an unsuccessful search. He plants himself smack dab in the front row, looks me squarely in the eye, raises one eyebrow quizzically and says, “Bad words?” I
Wondering about Bloom and what he has to do with SAS programming. For any learner, he is someone to respect. For anyone wishing to learn more about the levels of the learning process, this is the master. Bloom classified cognitive, a big word for thinking skills, into 6 broad categories.
Australian merino wool sweaters, Russian watches, Swiss chocolate, Chinese silk blouses, Canadian country music, American sweatshirts, English knitting patterns, Californian pistachios, French muesli, Egyptian bracelets, Scottish kilts, the list goes on. Was I born in a king’s family? Not really, much as I’d like to think of my dad as
Biked to the train station this morning…felt the wind, watched trees waving in the breeze…flew past Highway 403 with trucks whizzing by…felt noble about being environmentally conscious…took the side path to the station…slowed to a halt beside the bike parking lot…opened my backpack to take out the key to lock
Last night I had a phone conversation with a car rental customer service rep (CSR) which went somewhat like this: Me - Hi, I’d like to rent a compact car for this Saturday in Toronto. CSR- Your name? Me- Do you have a car available? CSR-I need your name first.
As far as numbers go, the number zero is rather mysterious for data. Is it something or is it nothing? What happens when you have missing data but enter 0? This topic triggered an intriguing discussion in my recent Programming 2: Data Manipulation Techniques class. In this post I’d like
Walking to work this sign caught my eye. I was moved as I’m sure you will be too – to see the lot of students universally. Like most folks, I’ve played different roles in life. Of them I would say that my part-time student role was the most challenging. My
Just to set the record straight, I’m a programmer who loves to write code. While SAS Enterprise Guide (EG) does make reporting easier, this time it’s not the displays that caught my eye. EG won this round hands down for ease of use to summarize data. This blog post will
Let’s start with a quiz. Which of the following is the Programmer’s Rule # 1? 1. Expert knowledge of multiple languages, like SAS and Java 2. Talent to maneuver with complex algorithms 3. Innate ability to draw flowcharts 4. None of the above Dear reader, as a savvy programmer, you
I’m sure you will all agree that a programmer’s favorite task is to maximize efficiency thus enhancing performance. Dear reader, in this blog post I’ll share my best programming practices so that you can benefit from what I typically show my students in class. At the end I’d like to
Who doesn’t like bargains? I’m sure you will all agree that good quality at a next-to-nothing cost is irresistible. My recent Dollarama run had me ecstatic about the gloves that come in all colours, styles and sizes for just over a dollar. (Fact: big retail stores charge over 10 times
Last December I taught a SAS Programming 1: Essentials class at Statistics Canada (Statcan). My class could barely contain their mirth while I valiantly struggled to find the semicolon on the French keyboard. Far cry from my first move to Canada (which is a bilingual country) and my excitement about
Ever since I got SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, my help is not really helping, meaning, I don’t see a lot of items listed when I type ‘filename’ under Index. As you showed us in class with SAS Enterprise Guide 4.2, I used to see lots of items in the Index.
When I joined SAS Institute I had no knowledge of SAS. I studied, researched and practiced. The questions I asked would make even the most seasoned programmer blush a beetroot red! Those were an intense nine months—I’ll tell you more in a later post about the learning system at SAS
Japan has a superfast train called the Shinkansen. The first I heard of it was when my sister visited Japan on a scholarship. Engine-awestruck, we wanted a ride, but weren’t able to get to Japan. Nor, did we know the language. (With over 5000 kanjis, it took my sister 3
I love to teach SAS programming and in this blog, I hope to share best practices, tips, tricks and answer some frequently asked questions by our SAS users. I’m constantly learning more nuances of SAS and more programming languages like SQL. Why the interest in language? As you probably know,