How to Find Answers Using SAS Resources

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How to Find Answers: Using SAS

Resources

Helen Carey, Carey Consulting, Kaneohe, HIGinger Carey, Carey Consulting, Kaneohe, HI

Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.—

Samuel Johnson

Abstract

The vast amount of information on the SAS System, particularly that available through the Web, can be overwhelming.Knowing where to find the information you need saves time and frustration. This paper is about the variety ofinformation and media available and describes where to learn more about SAS software and to find answers to yourSAS questions.

Introduction

Not having the information you need when you need it leaves you wanting. Not knowing where to look for that information leaves you powerless. In a society where information is king, none of us can afford that. —

Lois Horowitz

Information about SAS comes from many sources and is contributed by many people, including professional writers,SAS developers, conference presenters, and people asking and replying to questions on the discussion groupsSAS-L and SAS Forums. If you only useSAS Institute’s Customer Support Center(support.sas.com), you aremissing a wide range of resources.sasCommunity.org, announced at SAS Global Forum 2007, is a collaborative Web site where you can access andcontribute SAS information. sasCommunity.org is covered in the section

Community

but features ofsasCommunity.org are referenced throughout this paper.Also, we refer to papers from conferences, information located at SAS Institute’s Web site, and sample SAS codethroughout this paper. See the section

Community

on how to access conference papers.Wherever Web sites are referenced in the paper, you can click on the underlined name to link to the site. The lookand feel of the site or even the existence of the page may have changed since this paper was written. Search theWeb with very specific search terms to try to find the page if a referenced page is no longer available. We have giventhis paper a number of times at WUSS. There are numerous changes on the Internet and to this paper from one yearto the next. For example, since last year, the SAS Customer Support Center has been completely revamped.An excellent way to learn about a procedure or feature is via examples. How to access sample SAS code isdiscussed in most sections of this paper because sample SAS code are located in many places from resources onthe Web to code written at your company. Once you find sample code that you want to run, usually you just need toselect and copy the code into the editor window of your SAS session or your program file, verify that you have allneeded data, check that the libnames and filenames that point to data are correct for your operating system and thensubmit the code.

BEDROCK

Using BEDROCK (meaning foundation) as an acrostic, we have divided SAS resources into these seven sections(with the page number in parentheses):

– Books (2)

– Education (3)

– Documentation and SAS System Help (4)

– Resources at SAS Institute’s Web Site (7)

– Other Web Sites (11)

– Community (14)

– Keep Learning (16)

ooks

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. —

Mark Twain

“What was the last computer book you purchased? Why? What is your favorite all time computer book? Why?” Thesequestions appear as potential interview questions in the SESUG 2005 paper

HIRE POWER

. Your answers couldindicate whether you are willing to invest in learning more and keeping up with your profession.Books are an excellent way to learn about a new topic and to use for reference. Books may seem expensivecompared to getting information from the Web for free. However, consider the time saved by referencing the neededinformation concisely and thoroughly presented in a book versus spending literally hours searching the Web forinformation. In particular, you will save yourself time and frustration when you find and use those books that teachyou how to use a specific tool, such as macros or Output Delivery System. Books often have examples withexplanations.

SAS Titles.

SAS Publishing at SAS Institute produces books written by SAS staff. In 1976 there was one SASmanual,

A User's Guide to SAS 76

. It consisted of 330 pages and documented the 33 procedures in SAS 76. In 1996,there were more than 340 manuals and more than 100,000 pages. Today, in addition to even more books on SAS,many of the titles are available online for free. However, many getting-started type books and example type booksare not available online. See the

Documentation

section of this paper for information about online documentation andhelp.SAS Publishing has produced an excellent book for beginning and intermediate programmers called

Step-by-Step Programming with Base SAS

Software

. It is a

how-to guide on using DATA step programming and base SASprocedures with many examples and explanations. This book can be purchased as a soft-cover book. Also

SAS Help and Documentation

from the Help Window of SAS (Contents tab >SAS Products >

Base SAS

) and the SAS CustomerSupport Center contain the titleStep-by-Step Programming with Base SAS® Software.To order books online and track your order, visit

SAS Publishing

at the SAS Customer Support Center. It is easy tofind. Go to theSAS Customer Support Center(support.sas.com), and click on

Bookstore

under

LEARNING CENTER

in the left sidebar. You can search for topics and get the book’s description, price and other items, such as thebook’s table of content, a sample chapter and SAS code used in the book. You can read book reviews and browseinformation about the authors.

SAS Press.

SAS Press publishes books written by SAS users. In fact, SAS Press was formerly known as Books byUsers. These books cover a variety of topics from beginning books to those on specific topics, such as using SAS inthe health care industry. A SAS Press book can be a time-saver. If you like to learn by example, many of the SASPress books are written in that format, such as

Proc Tabulate by Example

SAS COM

. Subscribe to the Institute’s free quarterly print magazine as a print or Web version. To subscribe, youmust logon to your SAS Profile. If you do not have a profile, you will need to create a login. To do this, go towww.sas.comand click onResource Centerin the upper right corner. In the right sidebar under MY PROFILE, click on

Establish a login

. At the Resource Center, you can manage your subscriptions to SAS e-newsletters and also viewwhite papers and Webcasts on specific technologies.

Computer Books.

Also consider general computer books and books specific to your industry. Browse yourbookstore, college bookstore, company library, and online for useful computer books. The online bookstores usuallyhave reviews of the books by readers.Amazon.comsells SAS books by other publishers and books published bySAS Institute. For example, you can find

SAS for Dummies

(a book about SAS Enterprise Guide),

written by SASemployees Stephen McDaniel and Chris Hemedinger. Occasionally, Amazon will offer some of the SAS books at adiscount. Also check out the category SAS Books atSasCommunity(sascommunity.org/wiki/Category:SAS_Books.).

Which Books Will Be Useful To You?

One way to decide which books will be useful to you is to browse the booksin the publications area of the Demo Area at SAS conferences. Another way is to visit the online bookstore at SASPublishing. You can check out some books usingGoogle book search(books.google.com) and typing “SAS” in thesearch box. SAS Publishing has partnered with Google Book search so that you can search through their books andhave a limited preview of the book. For information on Google Book Search, visit that category atsasCommunity (sascommunity.org/wiki/Google

Book_Search.)

Sample Code in Documentation.

Check out the online sample code from SAS Institute and SAS Press books.Select the LEARNING CENTER section in the right sidebar of the SAS Customer Support Center home page. Thenselect

Bookstore

and

Browse

Resources

in the left sidebar. At the bottom of that page, select SASPress SeriesSamples.This is the sample code that accompanies the SAS Press books.

There are over 125 books listed on this page. To quickly find a topic, use the Web browser find command (ctrl+F.)

ducation

A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.

— Ludwig WittgensteinThere are numerous educational courses and workshops available for you to learn more about SAS. To find SAStraining that meets your needs, ask yourself, “What do I need to learn? How do I learn best? Where is it convenient forme to get the training? What can I spend on training?”SAS training, offered by SAS Institute and many other vendors, is available in different formats and delivery methods.Below are brief descriptions of some of these. VisitTraining(click on Training in the left sidebar)

at the SAS CustomerSupport Center site (support.sas.com/training) for the most current information about training and courses offered bythe Institute. You may also want to subscribe toSAS Training Report

(support.sas.com/training/news/

)

, a monthlyelectronic newsletter that is free and contains news about the latest on training and certification, special offers forsubscribers, programming tips, instructor profiles and sample code.

Instructor-led courses

. SAS Institute offers excellent instructor-led courses in many cities, before and after SASGlobal Forum, on-site and via Live Web. About 200 course titles are offered. Courses include slide presentations, livedemonstrations, exercises, time for questions and the Course Notes publication. Live Web offers the convenience oftaking instructor-led courses in your own office or home. All you need is a computer, Web browser and telephone.Exercises are done in a virtual lab where you connect to a SAS Institute machine running the latest version of thesoftware. Therefore, the SAS software does not need to be installed on your computer.

e-Learning.

SAS e-Learning allows you to take SAS Institute professional training from your desktop at your ownpace and when it is most convenient for you. Self-paced e-Learning courses are affordable and there are some freecourses such as

Getting Started with SAS and Getting Started with SAS Enterprise Guide

andSAS(R) 9.2 Changesand Enhancements for Base SAS(R), Session 1: New and Enhanced Procedures and Statements

The e-Learningcourses are available at the SAS Customer Support site by clicking on

Training

and

Self-Paced E-Learning

. The twoGetting Started courses are located under Free Tutorials. The SAS 9.2 free course is located under Find an e-Lecture> SAS Programming. You will need to login in and add the course to your shopping cart. If you do not have a loginprofile you can register at that time. When you checkout the e-Lecture will be available through a link.Self-paced e-Learning courses are taken in conjunction with the SAS software and include interactive questions andquizzes and guided exercises so that you can practice as you learn.

SAS Web Seminars.

SAS experts talk in-depth about technical topics and SAS products in live Web classes and on-demand Web seminars. Go to

www.sas.com

and click

More events

in the right sidebar, which will take you toWebcasts. Here you can search for a webcast by industry, solution or technology. You can also find webcasts at SASCustomer Support Center under

COMMUNITY

and

Events

SAS Learning Edition.

SAS Learning Edition is an educational tool that provides a hands-on experience way to learnSAS, particularly for students at educational institutions. The current version is valid through December 2011 andincludes Base SAS, SAS/STAT, SAS/GRAPH, SAS/QC, SAS/ETS and SAS Enterprise. Only the first 1,500observations of any data set are viewable. It comes with an online tutorial,

The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide

of 00

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