--------------------------------------------------------------------- The Boston Area SAS Users Group - Message List - May 2, 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: - Next BASUG Meeting - Future Meetings in 1998 - BASUG Web Site (Jobs!) - BASUG Contacts - How to subscribe/unsubscribe from the BASUG Message List --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterly BASUG Meeting --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT: Quarterly BASUG Meeting WHEN: Wednesday, May 20, 1998 - 8:30 AM to 12:00 Noon WHERE: SAS Institute, Boston regional office Prudential Tower 800 Boylston St, Suite 1500 Boston, MA CONTACT: Zach Johnson Tel: (617) 349-2762 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Our May meeting features a series of talks on Base SAS topics aimed at the beginning to intermediate SAS programmer. Tutorial presentations on the Input statement and Arrays will be complimented by three Coders’ Corner tips that will be useful to everyone. There will also be a short presentation on the Publications Division at SAS Institute. As usual, a number of SAS-related door prizes will be given away at the end of the meeting. This meeting is open to BASUG members and those who would like to learn more about the group. During the meeting, there will be ample opportunity for both new and former members to enroll for 1998. Our dues are only $16 per year per person, or $60 for all users at one site. Attendance limited to 70 people and re-registration is required! Contact Karin Collier (SAS Institute/Boston) by May 18 at: Tel: 617-262-4201 x241 Fax: 617-262-4253 Email: saskmc@wnt.sas.com For more information about the meeting, contact the meeting coordinators, Zach Johnson (617-349-2762) or Paul Grant (781-895-7614). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Schedule: 8:30 Continental breakfast compliments of SAS Institute 9:00 "The INPUT Statement: Where It's @" Ronald Cody, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School 10:00 "The 'SKIP' Statement" Paul Grant, Private Healthcare Systems, Inc. "Assigning an I/0 Value To a Variable Using Comparison Operators" Charlie DePascale, D.A.T.A., Inc. "Simplifying Complex Character Comparisons by Using the IN Operator and the Colon (:) Operator Modifier" Paul Grant, Private Healthcare Systems, Inc. 10:30 "Finding the Support You Need From SAS’ Publications Division" Chris O’Keefe, SAS Institute 11:00 "Introduction to SAS Arrays" Ronald Cody, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School --------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstracts: The INPUT Statement: Where It's @ - Ronald Cody, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School The INPUT statement is one of the most powerful and flexible features of SAS software. You can read data values separated by spaces or commas (or other delimiters), data values in specified columns, or data stored in a variety of formats such as packed decimal, or binary. You can also read date values in most of the standard formats. Along with an INFILE statement, you can read data from external files as well. You can place the data for several observations on a single data line or you can read several lines of data and create a single observation. Finally, you can read values from a line of data and, depending on the value, decide how to read the remaining data. This tutorial will tell you where it's @. Dr. Ron Cody is an Associate Professor in the department of Environmental and Community Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey. He has been a SAS user for more than 20 years and is the author of Applied Statistics and the SAS(r) Programming Language (fourth edition), published by Prentice Hall. Along with Ray Pass, he has written a book called SAS(r) Programming by Example, a book of annotated SAS examples, published by the SAS Institute as part of their Books by Users series. His latest books, also published by the SAS Institute, are The SAS Workbook, and the SAS Workbook: Solutions. Ron has presented invited papers for numerous local, regional, and national SAS conferences. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'SKIP' Statement - Paul Grant, Private Healthcare Systems, Inc. Using bracket-style comments ( /* ... */ ) is the most common way to prevent execution of blocks of code when you are testing a SAS program. But what do you do when the code already contains comments? This paper explains how you can use the SAS Macro facility to prevent execution of blocks of SAS code - in effect, creating a super-comment or 'SKIP' statement. Paul Grant is a Lead Programmer/Analyst at Private Healthcare Systems in Waltham, MA. He chaired the SUGI 21 (Chicago, 1996) and NESUG '94 (Philadelphia, 1994) SAS user group conferences. He is currently chairperson of the Boston Area SAS Users Group. Paul has been using SAS software in a variety of industries since 1981. Assigning an I/0 Value To a Variable Using Comparison Operators Charles A. DePascale, Data Analysis & Testing Associates, Inc. Using the assignment statement A = B = C, it is possible to assign an I/0 value to the variable A. The second equal sign is interpreted as a comparison operator (EQ) comparing the values of B and C. If B and C are equal, the value returned is 1. If B and C are not equal, the value returned is 0. This paper describes how we have applied variations of this coding tip to several of our most frequently used programming applications, eliminating the need for multiple IF-THEN-ELSE statements. Charlie DePascale is president of Data Analysis & Testing Associates, Inc., a consulting company specializing in assessment, measurement, and program evaluation. He is a section co-chair for Coders' Corner at NESUG '98 and has been a regular participant in Coders' Corner since its inception at NESUG '92. Simplifying Complex Character Comparisons by Using the IN Operator and the Colon (:) Operator Modifier - Paul Grant, Private Healthcare Systems, Inc. Complex character comparisons - comparisons of character values in a data set against a number of character constants which vary in length - are easier specified than coded. For example, how would you select the records of customers whose last names begin with 'Mc' or 'Mac'? How would you select the records of customers who live in ZIP codes beginning with '010' through '0131'? This paper will show you how to use the IN operator and the colon (:) operator modifier to code these comparisons simply and clearly. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction to SAS Arrays - Ronald Cody, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School SAS arrays are a facility that can reduce the amount of coding in a SAS data step. Although often thought of as an advanced programming tool, there are many applications of arrays that can be easily mastered. This talk will demonstrate some of the more common uses of SAS arrays. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Directions: From the Massachusetts Turnpike: -Follow the Mass Pike eastbound into Boston. Take exit 22 (Copley Square/Prudential Center and follow signs for Prudential Center. This will take you directly into the Prudential Center Garage. The Mass Pike is accessible from Route 128/95. From Route 93 Northbound/Southeast Expressway: -Exit Route 93 at exit 18 (Massachusetts Avenue). At the end of the ramp, turn right and follow Mass. Ave. for approximately 2 miles to Boylston Street. Take a right onto Boylston Street. The Prudential Center Garage is 3/4 mile on the right. From Route 93/1 Southbound: -Exit onto Storrow Drive West and follow until the Copley Square exit on the left. Take a right onto Beacon Street and follow until Exeter Street. Take a left onto Exeter Street and follow 4 blocks. The Prudential Center Garage will be on the right. From Route 95/1 Southbound: -Exit onto Route 93 South and follow directions above. Parking: -Parking is available at the Prudential Center Garage for $18 per day. There are other, less expensive parking lots in the area. If you plan to drive, try to get into the city early to avoid traffic and find a place to park. Public Transportation MBTA buses, commuter trains, and the Green and Orange subway lines are all within a five-minute walk from Prudential Center. -Green Line access: Prudential Center stop on Huntington Avenue, the Copley station at Boylston and Dartmouth Streets, or the Hynes/ICA station on Newbury Street at Mass. Ave. -Orange Line: Back Bay station (indoor walking access available through Copley Place to Prudential Center/Tower) -Commuter rail: Back Bay station (indoor walking access available through Copley Place to Prudential Center/Tower) --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Meetings in 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tentative schedule of future meetings: - July 29, 1998: Training class: Intermediate/Advanced Efficiency Techniques, Bob Virgile, location TBD - members only - Sept 16, 1998: SAS Version 7, Paul Kent, SAS Institute, at Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge - October, 1998: Training class: SAS Macros location TBD - members only - Dec 9, 1998: Statistics location TBD --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- BASUG Web Site --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Our site on the Web always carries the latest available information about the group, including: - new job openings (four in the last week) - our Consultants' Registry - earliest word on upcoming meetings - links to other sites of interest to SAS users Check out: http://world.std.com/~mmurphy/basug.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- BASUG Contacts: --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Boston Area SAS Users Group (BASUG) // e-mail: basug@world.std.com // WWW: http://world.std.com/~mmurphy/basug.html // US Mail: PO Box 253, Boston 02117 --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- How to subscribe/unsubscribe from our message list --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- The BASUG message list notifies subscribers of the latest plans concerning meetings, classes, conferences, and employment news of interest to local SAS users. 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