When I think of the Western Users of SAS Software conference, I think of my first event in 1994. I was just starting to learn SAS and wanted to meet others in my region who were also excited about the software. Meeting and discussing SAS topics face to face at the three day conference not only was a lot of fun, but helped me enhance my programming skills. I remember meeting SAS experts who went out of their way to explain concepts such as ODS, and provide practical examples. I also learned from SAS employees giving live demos and answering my technical questions. Finally, I took advantage of free technical support by taking my SAS programs with warnings and notes to the Code Doctors for a full examination.

Through this conference and others like it and years of experience, I developed some programming techniques that have saved me hours of time. And like those SAS experts at my first WUSS, I now share my knowledge at SAS conferences.

I’ve also contributed to SAS blogs, and my most popular online tip Something for Nothing – Adding Group Descriptive Statistics has over 9,000 views. When I presented this tip at a conference, it was standing room only. Below is the tip that easily adds SEXN variable, the number of males or females. This example gives you a flavor of the type of valuable insights I'll be sharing at this year’s WUSS conference and become more productive back in the office.

proc sql;
create table class2 as
   select a.*, b.sexn                                     /* add group count variable */
   from sashelp.class as a
   left join                                                       /* keep all records */
   (select sex, count(sex) as sexn               /* create group count variable */
    from sashelp.class where sex gt ' '       /* apply condition as needed */
    group by sex                                             /* group by variable */
   ) as b on a.sex=b.sex;                               /* link by detail variable */
quit;

Want to learn more tips like these? If so, I encourage you to join fellow SAS programmers at WUSS.  As a presenter and SAS author, I personally enjoy helping others apply SAS syntax to solve real-world programs. I especially like techniques to standardize and automate process.

This year’s Western Users of SAS Software Educational Forum and Conference takes place from September 7-9 at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square in San Francisco. Join me there to learn more about my SAS tips.

Register now. It’s a great three days of educational opportunities, 100+ presentations, classes, workshops, networking and more. Visit wuss.org for more information.

Hope to see you there!