The SAS Dummy
A SAS® blog for the rest of us![The default settings are not good enough](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2011/09/knobs.png)
Today, I came across this article that discusses how software users rarely change the settings in the applications that they use. Users assume that the software vendor sets the default values as they are for a reason, and who are they to set them otherwise? I'm a software developer (and
![Next time, do your own homework](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2017/01/ProgrammingTips-2.png)
SAS programming is taught in schools all over the world, including in high schools. Occasionally, I receive questions via my blog such as this one: Can somebody help me on this? Write a short DATA _NULL_ step to determine the largest integer you can store on your computer in 3,
![Measuring the value of my DVD-by-mail movie service](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2011/09/webquery.png)
Like millions of other Americans, I recently was asked to make a decision of tremendous importance to my household -- a decision that would affect the welfare of everyone in my family. That decision, of course, was whether to continue to receive Netflix movies by mail, or opt for the
![Calling Windows PowerShell from SAS: a simple example](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2011/09/getprocessSimple.png)
As I mentioned in my introductory post about Windows PowerShell, you can use PowerShell commands as a simple and concise method to collect data from your Windows systems -- information that is ripe for analysis within SAS. In this example, I'll show a technique for using a SAS program to
![Google Reader bundles for SAS-related blogs](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2017/01/ProgrammingTips-2.png)
I use Google Reader to keep up with SAS-related conversations on the blogosphere. I thought it would be nice to share the lists of blogs that I follow as "shared bundles". If you also use Google Reader, it will be very easy for you to add these bundles to
![XCMD and SAS 9.3: working together again](https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/files/2017/01/ProgrammingTips-2.png)
It's been a well-known limitation for a long time. When you connect to a SAS session using SAS Enterprise Guide, shell commands (including X command, SYSTASK, and FILENAME PIPE) are off-limits because the default SAS invocation disables them. It does this by including -NOXCMD as a command-line option. This makes