About This Book

This book teaches SAS programming from very basic concepts to more advanced topics. Because many programmers prefer examples over reference-type syntax, this book uses short examples to explain each topic. The second edition has brought this classic book about SAS programming up to the latest SAS version. There are new chapters that cover topics such as PROC SGPLOT (replacing the older chapter about SAS/GRAPH) and a completely new chapter about Perl regular expressions. This is a book that belongs on the shelf (or e-book reader) of every person who programs in SAS

This book has been used by people with no programming experience who want to learn SAS as well as intermediate and even advanced SAS programmers who want to learn new techniques or see new ways to accomplish existing tasks.

There are no prerequisites for this book. It is for EVERYONE.

A new chapter about Perl regular expressions was added, and an old chapter about SAS/GRAPH was replaced by one describing PROC SGPLOT. This procedure can re-create all the output that was previously created by SAS/GRAPH but in a much simpler manner. All the programs in the second edition were examined to determine whether there was a newer, better way to accomplish the task. Finally, all the output is shown in the default HTML style.

You can download every program and data set that is used in this book so that you can try the programs on your own—a valuable learning experience.

The only SAS software that you need is Base SAS or the SAS University Edition. Because the latter is available to anyone as a free download, anyone can learn how to program using SAS even if he or she does not currently have access to SAS.

You can access the example code and data for this book by linking to its author page at support.sas.com/cody. If you are using the SAS University edition, you must copy the programs and data files to one of your shared folders. An example is C:SASUniversityEditionMyfolders.

This book is compatible with SAS University Edition.

Solutions to the odd-numbered problems are printed at the back of the book and are also included in the free download link on the author page. Professors can obtain copies of the solutions to the even-numbered problems, and self-learners can also request these solutions.

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