SAS Programming Fast Track - Advanced (FAST2)

Duration

5 days

Description

This course builds on the concepts presented in the SAS Programming II: Manipulating Data with the DATA Step course. It focuses on reading data with direct access; combining data; sorting; using multidimensional arrays, hash tables, and formats for table lookups; efficiently storing data; utilizing best practices; and creating tables with the SAS Scalable Performance Data Engine. The course also explains the components of the SAS macro facility and teaches you how to design, write, and debug macro systems. Emphasis is placed on understanding how programs with and without macro code are processed.

This course combines the SAS Programming III: Advanced Techniques and Efficiencies and SAS Macro Language courses.

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Prerequisite Skills

This course is not appropriate for beginning SAS software users. Before attending this course, you should have at least nine months of SAS programming experience and should have completed the SAS Programming II: Manipulating Data with the DATA Step course. Specifically, you should be able to do the following:

• understand your operating system file structures and perform basic operating system tasks
• understand programming logic concepts
• understand the compilation and execution process of the DATA step
• use different kinds of input to create SAS data sets from external files
• use SAS software to access SAS data libraries
• create and use SAS date values
• read, concatenate, merge, match-merge, and interleave SAS data sets
• use the DROP=, KEEP=, and RENAME= data set options
• create multiple output data sets
• use array processing and DO loops to process data iteratively
• use SAS functions to perform data manipulation and transformations

Course Topics

Introduction

• measuring efficiencies
• SAS processing
• controlling memory and I/O resources

Accessing Observations

• creating a sample data set
• creating and using an index

Combining Data Horizontally

• joining data sets by value
• combining summary and detail data
• using an index to combine data
• updating data
• combining summary and detail data using two SET statements (self-study)

Combining Data Vertically

• appending SAS data sets
• appending raw data files

BY-Group Processing and Sorting

• eliminating duplicates
• sorting resources
• choosing the right sort routine (self-study)
• alternatives to sorting

Using Lookup Tables to Match Data

• using arrays as lookup tables
• using hash objects as lookup tables
• using formats as lookup tables
• transposing data to create a lookup table

Controlling Data Storage Space

• reducing the length of numeric variables
• compressing data files
• creating a DATA step view

Utilizing Best Practices to Improve Efficiency

• executing only necessary statements
• eliminating unnecessary passes through the data
• reading and writing only essential data
• networking efficiency considerations (self-study)

Introduction to the Macro Facility

• purpose of the macro facility
• program flow
• course data

Macro Variables

• introduction to macro variables
• automatic macro variables
• macro variable references
• user-defined macro variables
• delimiting macro variable names
• macro functions

Macro Definitions

• defining and calling macros
• macro parameters

DATA Step and SQL Interfaces

• creating macro variables in the DATA step
• indirect references to macro variables
• retrieving macro variables in the DATA step
• creating macro variables in SQL

Macro Programs

• conditional processing
• iterative processing
• global and local symbol tables

Booking

Please contact the Education Team at SAS for the latest information on all SAS courses or to put your name on our specialised course waiting list.