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
In a previous post, I described how to compute means and standard errors for data that I want to rank. The example data (which are available for download) are mean daily delays for 20 US airlines in 2007. The previous post carried out steps 1 and 2 of the method
Take your pick. The NCAA men’s final championship game, the Academy of Country Music Awards, and SAS Global Forum 2011 all sweep in early next week—representing the pinnacle of their respective organizations. Rather than stay on the sidelines, I’m sure that many of you will actively participate in some of
Many SAS users love "undocumented features" within SAS software that they have found or heard about. Sometimes they can be really useful, and the fact that they are undocumented adds to the mystique. Some users have written entire conference papers on the subject. After 35 years of evolution, SAS contains
When you create a character matrix in SAS/IML software, the initial values determine the number of characters that can fit into any element of the matrix. For example, the following statements define a 1x3 character matrix: proc iml; m = {"Low" "Med" "High"}; After the matrix is defined, at most
Do Exchange Rates Matter? Contributed by Robert Rowan, an International Finance Controller at SAS and author of new book Foreign Currency Financial Reporting from Euro to Yen to Yuan: A Guide to Fundamental Concepts and Practical Applications Until 2008 General Motors (GM) reigned as the world’s No. 1 automaker. GM
I recently posted an article about representing uncertainty in rankings on the blog of the ASA Section for Statistical Programmers and Analysts (SSPA). The posting discusses the importance of including confidence intervals or other indicators of uncertainty when you display rankings. Today's article complements the SSPA post by showing how
I recently blogged about how to eliminate a macro loop in favor of using SAS/IML language statements. The purpose of the program was to extract N 3x3 matrices from a big 3Nx3 matrix. The main portion of my PROC IML program looked something like this: proc iml; ... do i=0
Recently, I was waiting at a stoplight listening to an author interview on NPR. They were talking with Joshua Foer, a journalist who, as part of a feature he was writing, decided to take on the challenge of the United States Memory Championship event and ended up winning. He’s written
Growing up in Michigan, I, like all state residents, learned early on that the lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten. This piece of information has served me well all my life; whenever I meet a stranger who wants to know where in Michigan I grew up, I
SAS procedure SUMMARY is a quick method of converting your detail table to a fully summarized one. Included is a sample. The key option to set is the NWAY - this generates the lowest level of summary for use in the OLAP cube. Essentially - the class statement contains all
In the computer software industry, 35 years is like an eon. I mean, 35 years ago, the computing power that I carry around within my mobile phone didn't even exist all in one place; but if it did, it would have filled an entire building. That's why the recent posting
Statistical programmers can be creative and innovative. But when it comes to choosing names of variables, often x1, x2, x3,... works as well as any other choice. In this blog post, I have two tips that are related to constructing variable names of the form x1, x2,..., xn. Both tips
In the past couple months, this scenario has occurred twice. So thought I'd share a quick remedy ~ and save for my future reference when this occurs again :). In Star Schemas, there are sometimes occasions where the data quality isn't exactly perfect. And sometimes, for some users/companies, this is
Third Edition of SAS OnlineDoc® 9.2 PDF Files released today It's not often that you can purchase an entire library of reference documentation for less than the cost of a single book. However, that's exactly what you can do if you purchase the SAS OnlineDoc 9.2 PDF Files. This stand-alone
We're having an early spring in North Carolina. Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and the warmer temperatures make even a pistol whipping more enjoyable. What better way to take advantage of the new season than filling your spring with educational opportunities in forecasting. Plan in Perfect Sync with Customer
Loony. Zany. Brilliant. Hysterical. Those are some of the adjectives I use to describe The Far Side® cartoons by Gary Larson from the 1980s and early '90s. I recently rediscovered an old book, The Far Side Gallery 2, which collects some of the best of Larson's wonderfully wacky cartoons. Every
SAS Global Forum 2011 just over two weeks away. The R&D and product management teams are preparing the demos to show on stage during the highly-visible opening sessions. A tremendous amount of work goes into planning the program. It's great to see what they come up with. When it comes
On St. Patrick’s Day there are green rivers, mugs of green beer, and lots of green outerwear. I’m not sure what percentage of SAS Publishing book covers are green, but it's high. And in all probability for good reason. Besides being the most appealing color to the eye (I didn’t
Did you know that several major contributors on the collaborative online community for SAS® users worldwide are SAS Press authors? In fact, sasCommunity.org, created by SAS users for SAS users, includes authors Art Carpenter, Don Henderson, Kirk Lafler, Michael Raithel, Howard Schreier and Charlie Shipp on the current advisory board.
In a previous blog post, I showed how to use the SAS/IML SORT and SORTNDX subroutines to sort rows of a matrix according to the values of one or more columns. There is another common situation in which you might need to sort a matrix: you compute a statistic for
eBooks are all the rage now in the publishing industry and for SAS Publishing, we’re just as excited as the rest of our publishing friends. But not all e-reading experiences are created equal. Smart phones, tablets, and dedicated eReaders have opened the door to eBook delivery. These devices offer beautiful
Sorting is a fundamental operation in statistical programming, and most SAS programmers are familiar with PROC SORT for sorting data sets. But did you know that you can also sort rows of a SAS/IML matrix according to the value of one or more columns? This post shows how. Sorting a
OLAP Calculated Members need to be tested to ensure that the numbers are correct in various tools. What we recently found was that the member tested properly in the OLAP Studio View Cube but then in Web Report Studio, the measure wasn't correct. Essentially, it was calculating the custom measurement
In my spare time, I enjoy browsing the StackOverflow discussion forum to see what questions people are asking about SAS, SAS/IML, and statistics. Last week, a statistics student asked for help with the following homework problem: I need to generate a one-dimensional random walk in which the step length and
Contributed by Gert Laursen--author, head of customer intelligence at Maersk Line, and business intelligence thought leader in Denmark Dear reader, In my new book, Business Analytics for Sales and Marketing Managers: How to Compete in the Information Age, you can learn how you can use analytics to reach your sales
Several times a year, I am contacted by a SAS account manager who tells me that a customer has asked whether it is possible to convert a MATLAB program to the SAS/IML language. Often the customer has an existing MATLAB program and wants to include the computation as part of
When I began my job at SAS in 1999 (I was only 14 years old at the time), one of my responsibilities was taking over the production of a listserv called NEWDOCNEWS. The listserv consisted of all the new titles from Books By Users (now SAS Press) and SAS Documentation
String comparisons in SAS software are case-sensitive. For example, the uppercase letter "F" and lowercase letter "f" are treated as unique characters. When these two letters represent the same condition (for example, a female patient), the strings need to be handled in a case-insensitive manner, and a SAS programmer might
Gerhard Svolba, author of Data Preparation for Analytics Using SAS, is working on his second book for SAS Press and this time around he’s also writing about his experience—writing the book. I’m really enjoying his weekly blog The Creation of the Book: Data Quality for Analytics. Gerhard, who resides in
