----------------------------------------------------------- The Boston Area SAS Users Group Message List - March 6, 1999 ----------------------------------------------------------- Contents: - BASUG Quarterly Meeting, March 24, 1999 - BASUG Contacts - How to subscribe/unsubscribe from this Message List ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Meeting Announcement (updated) ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- WHAT: BASUG Quarterly Meeting WHEN: Wednesday, March 24, 1999, 9:00 AM to Noon WHERE: SAS Institute Inc, Boston Regional Office Prudential Tower, Suite 1500 Boston MA HOW: Attendance is limited. Pre-registration required. Contact Karin Collier (SAS Institute/Boston) by Monday, March 22 at: · Tel: 617-262-4201 x241 · Fax: 617-262-4253 · E-mail: saskmc@wnt.sas.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Our March meeting features four talks on core SAS topics aimed at the beginning to intermediate SAS programmer. 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 1999. Our dues are only $16 per year per person, or $60 for all users at one site. SCHEDULE: 8:30 - continental breakfast compliments of SAS Institute 9:00 - "The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Common Programming Mistakes" Bob Virgile , Robert Virgile Associates 9:45 - "Changing the Dynamics of the UPDATE Statement Using NOMISSINGCHECK" Mary Singelais, Bell Atlantic 10:00 - "An SQL List Macro to Retrieve Data from Large SAS/DB2 Databases" Thiru Satchi, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MA 11:00 - "Longitudinal Data Techniques: Looking Across Observations" Ron Cody, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ----------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACTS AND BIOS: ----------------------------------------------------------- "The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Common Programming Mistakes" As programmers begin using the SAS software, their programs often contain many of the same types of mistakes. A seemingly innocuous error, such as omitting a semicolon, may generate results ranging from an obvious error message to an impossible to decipher error message to destroying an existing dataset. This paper covers typical errors made at an introductory level, including those which produce no error message but still generate the wrong result. Bob Virgile is a SAS veteran, having participated in every NESUG and many SUGI, MWSUG, PharmaSUG, NYASUG, and SESUG conferences. Besides presenting papers, Bob creates the problem-solving contests for SUGI and NESUG, and has published two books through SAS Institute. Bob also has been teaching an outstanding series of SAS classes since 1983. ----------------------------------------------------------- "Changing the Dynamics of the UPDATE Statement Using NOMISSINGCHECK" With SAS Release 6.11, a new option was introduced in conjunction with the UPDATE statement. It’s called NOMISSINGCHECK, and it can alter the dynamics of the UPDATE statement. With NOMISSINGCHECK, every field on the transaction data set is applied to the master file, whether a value exists or not. Using the NOMISSINGCHECK option may provide a solution that fits your application’s unique set of requirements. This presentation will review the UPDATE procedure, demonstrate how to include the NOMISSINGCHECK option, explain how the option works, and outline effective applications for applying this option. Mary Singelais is a Systems Engineer with the Performance Assurance Group of Bell Atlantic’s Data Center, Network and Distributed Resources Portfolio. She is currently the lead SAS developer responsible for technical support for a dynamic Intranet report application, using SAS Intrnet software and SAS publishing tools for the web. Ms. Singelais holds a BA degree in Communication Studies and a certificate in Programmer Training Development. ----------------------------------------------------------- "An SQL List Macro to Retrieve Data from Large SAS/DB2 Databases" The SQL Pass-Through facility in the SAS/Access interface software is a tool to retrieve data from DB2 Relational Database Management System (RDMS) tables and to convert them into a SAS dataset. This paper demonstrates the benefits of using this feature, along with a macro that converts a SAS dataset into a list of key values. If these key variables are indexed in a DB2 table, the macro will significantly decrease the required programming and computer processing time. Thiru Satchi has been a Research Analyst for over five years at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts in the Health Services Evaluation Department and teaches SAS Classes for Blue Cross Employees. Prior to that , he was Adjunct Faculty for more than eight years at Wentworth Institute of Technology as a Statistics Lecturer in the Mathematics Department . Before making the move to Blue Cross he worked for three years at Travelers Insurance in the Property and Casualty Division. He has presented an earlier version of this paper at NESUG. ----------------------------------------------------------- "Longitudinal Data Techniques: Looking Across Observations" One of the most difficult tasks for a SAS programmer is to perform operations across multiple observations. For example, you may have a data set of patient visits, with a variable number of visits per patient and the data for each visit stored in a separate observation. Some of the techniques for working with such data include the RETAIN statement, FIRST. and LAST. logical variables, the LAG function, and the use of multiple SET statements (each with a separate FIRSTOBS= option). Other techniques for summarizing data for each patient (such as the number of visits, the mean and median of some variables) involve procedures such as PROC FREQ, PROC MEANS and PROC UNIVARIATE to output summary data sets. This talk will demonstrate and discuss these techniques. 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 Programming Language (fourth edition), published by Prentice Hall. Along with Ray Pass, he has written a book called SAS Programming by Example, a book of annotated SAS examples, published by the SAS Institute as part of their Books by Users series. His most recent books, also published by the SAS Institute, are The SAS Workbook, and the SAS Workbook: Solutions. He is currently under contract with the SAS Institute for a book on data cleaning techniques. Ron has presented invited papers for numerous local, regional, and national SAS conferences. ----------------------------------------------------------- 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. From Route 93 Northbound/Southeast Expressway: Exit Route 93 at exit 18 (Massachusetts Avenue). Follow the signs for Mass. Ave. through the construction area. Turn right on the access road. Turn right onto Mass. Ave. and follow it 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 direction above. Parking: Parking is available at the Prudential Center Garage for $19 for 4 - 10 hours. There are other, less expensive parking lots in the area. 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, Copley station on Boylston Street at Dartmouth Street Hynes/ICA station on Mass Ave. Orange Line: Back Bay station (indoor walking access available through Copley Place to Prudential Tower) Commuter rail: Back Bay station ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- 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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