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Shelly GoodinFebruary 10, 2012 0

SAS author's tip: using %NRSTR to mask macro triggers

As SAS user Marje Fecht said "We all want a 'SAS programming assistant' to help us complete our jobs more quickly." Fecht, Senior Partner at Prowerk Consulting, then went on to say "In her book SAS Macro Programming Made Easy, Second Edition, Michele Burlew encourages us to take advantage of the SAS

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Shelly GoodinDecember 23, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: computing a new variable with PROC REPORT

Ron Cody and his supremely helpful book Learning SAS by Example close out our weekly SAS Author's Tip of 2011. Ron Cody is a household name in the SAS user community. And he deserves the moniker on his license plate of "SASMAN". Just mentioning Ron's name at user conferences incites awe. Sometimes

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December 12, 2011 0

Author to author: top tips for new writers

SAS Press prides itself on being a place where users come to help other users. Collaboration is key here—not just between authors and the SAS Press team, but among authors alike. So we asked two of our authors, one experienced and one currently working on his first  book, to share

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarDecember 7, 2011 0

Mmm... Dr. G and the M&Ms

“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

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Shelly GoodinDecember 2, 2011 0

SAS author’s tip: SQL pass-through

Consultant Frederick Pratter continues his winning streak with this third edition of Web Development with SAS by Example. Web programmers of all levels will appreciate Frederick's many real-world examples and clean delivery. Speaking of delivery, I'd encourage those of you who attend SAS Global Forum and regional user group conferences to seek out Frederick if

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Michael A. RaithelDecember 1, 2011 0

26.2 miles, 1 book, and a simple SAS program

26.2!  If you smiled when you read that number, then you are likely one of the cognoscenti who ran a marathon or know somebody that ran a marathon.  If you didn’t recognize that number, then by now you may have guessed that it is the number of miles in a

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Analytics | Learn SAS

November 8, 2011 0

What we learned from this year’s conferences

JSM, Miami Beach, FL, July 31–August 3 Miami Beach in August is hot. Ridiculously hot. Almost as hot as our preview copies at this show. Conference goers were extremely excited about a number of our upcoming statistics titles, including Customer Segmentation and Clustering Using SAS® Enterprise Miner™, Second Edition, by

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Shelly GoodinOctober 28, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: generating a dagger

This week's featured tip is from master SAS user Art Carpenter and his classic book Carpenter's Complete Guide to the SAS REPORT Procedure. In his review for the book, Rick Mitchell-senior systems analyst at Westat-said "I am green with envy for the newest generation of SAS programmers because I wish that I had had this book in

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Shelly GoodinOctober 21, 2011 0

SAS author’s tip: using the Options window in SAS Enterprise Guide

Super authors Susan Slaughter and Lora Delwiche and their bestselling Little SAS Book series have empowered the user community for years. This dynamic duo has uncannily anticipated what SAS users need to know. And they've produced thoughtful and accessible books with remarkable speed. One of their most recent books The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 provides

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarOctober 12, 2011 0

Bad words in SAS - PG rating

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

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerOctober 10, 2011 0

10 tips for organizing your SAS Enterprise Guide projects

What is the best way to organize your SAS work in a SAS Enterprise Guide project?  There are no project templates or enforced structure, really, but isn't there a best practice? I don't have a single prescription for the best project organization.  I believe that it depends on the nature

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Shelly GoodinSeptember 23, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: macro functions %EVAL and %SYSEVALF

One of of my favorite reviewer quotes about Michele Burlew's book SAS Macro Programming Made Easy, Second Edition is" [ It ] helps eliminate the 'fear factor' often associated with using macros, while offering valuable insight to programmers with a broad range of experience." --Suson vonLehmden, RTI International I've worked with Michele Burlew

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August 30, 2011 0

The wild, wild West of SAS Press

You’ve gotten to know Stacey Hamilton; now it’s time to learn more about SAS Press acquisitions editor John West! John  West typically works on programming and statistics titles and has been with SAS Publishing for 22 years: He started at SAS as a proofreader, then moved into technical editing where

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Shelly GoodinAugust 26, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: useful PROC CORR options

 This week's SAS author's tip comes from a large green book that many of you are familiar with: A Step-by-Step Approach to Using SAS for Univariate & Multivariate Statistics, Second Edition by Norm O'Rourke, Larry Hatcher, and Edward J. Stepanski. Despite its massive size, this isn't an intimidating text. The authors ease you

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August 17, 2011 0

New edition of Web Development with SAS by Example

The new, third edition of Frederick Pratter’s Web Development with SAS by Example recently came out to great fanfare. Updated for SAS 9.2 and SAS Enterprise BI Server 4.3, Web Development with SAS by Example, Third Edition, introduces readers to Web programming using real-world examples and SAS Web programming tools. So

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Shelly GoodinAugust 15, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: SPEDIS and fuzzy matching

This week’s featured SAS author’s tip comes from SAS user extraordinaire Ron Cody.  Honestly, because Ron has written so many SAS books, I could probably feature a year’s worth of tips from his work alone. To find something useful in any of Ron’s books, one merely needs to let the

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Shelly GoodinAugust 5, 2011 0

SAS author's tip: TAGSETS.RTF and table of contents

I bet that many of you reading our blog are familiar with accomplished SAS users and authors Lauren Haworth, Cynthia Zender, and Michele Burlew. Together, they form a powerful triumvirate of SAS experience. If you get a chance to pick up their book Output Delivery System: The Basics and Beyond

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July 6, 2011 0

What SAS Press editor Stacey Hamilton is REALLY like

Here at SAS Press, we offer a strong, stable publishing team with over 55 years of combined experience. But as a potential author (or even current one) or fan of our press, you might want to get a better feel for the people behind the book. Thus a new feature,

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarJune 21, 2011 0

Is something missing or is it a ZERO?

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

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June 15, 2011 0

SAS Press to debut new statistical titles at JSM 2011

The 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) will be from July 31-August 3 in Miami Beach. Look for acquisitions editor and SAS Press conference mega-maven Shelley Sessoms at the SAS Publishing booth (#504). Shelley can talk with you about: New and forthcoming statistics-related books from SAS Press, including Statistical Analysis for

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Chris HemedingerMay 3, 2011 0

Using SAS Enterprise Guide to run programs in batch

SAS Enterprise Guide is best known as an interactive interface to SAS, but did you know that you can use it to run batch-style programs as well? SAS Enterprise Guide has always offered an automation object model, which allows you to use scripting languages (such as VBScript or Windows PowerShell)

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April 29, 2011 0

JMP Essentials book wins international award

Congratulations to Curt Hinrichs and Chuck Boiler! Their book, JMP Essentials: An Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide for New Users, has won an Award of Distinguished Technical Communication in this year’s International Summit Awards presented by the Society for Technical Communication. The award goes to a project that “applies the principles of

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarMarch 30, 2011 0

SAS Programmer Rule # 1

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

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Judi RourkeMarch 8, 2011 0

Subscribe to SAS Publishing News--and as a bonus get to know Judi Rourke!

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

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarFebruary 23, 2011 0

Top 5 SAS programming best practices

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

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarJanuary 24, 2011 0

Find your data pattern with Perl

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

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarDecember 17, 2010 0

Five reasons to use the SAS DATA Step or PROC SQL

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

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Charu ShankarNovember 29, 2010 0

How SAS engines can read a range of data in Excel

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

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Chris HemedingerNovember 8, 2010 0

Smart Cats with blogs on stats

Let's face it: ever since cats learned how to access the Internet, they've managed to besmirch their prestigious status as the "smarter-if-a-bit-aloof" pet. They've starred in many demeaning YouTube videos, bringing shame to their species for the sake of some cheap laughs. But I'm here to tell you: there are

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Rick WicklinSeptember 30, 2010 0

Twitter and the Fibonacci Sequence

This morning I read an interesting post about the design of the new Twitter Web page. The post included some R code to generate the ratio between adjacent terms in the Fibonacci seqence. The ratio converges to the "Golden Ratio": 1.61803399.... I'm sure that many R gurus will post simpler

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