A Review of "The Little SAS Book: A Primer, 3rd Ed."

by Lora D. Delwiche and Susan J. Slaughter

April, 2008
Reviewed by Michael S. Hines

About the Author
Mike Hines, Purdue University

Mike has 34 years of experience in data processing related jobs, mostly with mainframe computing. For 5 of those years he has been responsible for performance management and capacity planning at Purdue. He helped establish the first capacity planning and performance monitoring role in ADPC (now ITaP). He has served as a reviewer and session coordinator at CMG National.

SAS Publishing, 2003, 330 pp
ISBN-10: 1-59047-333-7

I am one of the half-dozen or so SAS "Power Users" on campus, yet when I read "The Little SAS Book" I found new techniques I was not aware of. The book is targeted for new SAS users, but as the authors mention "... if you have some experience you may still find this book useful for learning techniques you missed or for reference". I certainly found that to be true.

SAS Institute has a program where SAS users can write books about SAS. The program is called "Books by Users" and "The Little SAS Book" is one of those books written by two SAS users. You can find other Books by Users on the SAS Web site at: http://support.sas.com/publishing/bbu.

The book is loaded with code samples to illustrate the various teaching points. The code and sample data can be downloaded and used to learn the techniques being taught. This allows you to concentrate on the techniques being taught, rather than practicing typing.

For those using the interactive SAS system, there is a short introduction to managing the screen sections to accomplish tasks. To the uninitiated this can be somewhat frightening. Issues such as "I just entered my code and ran it - where'd my source code go?" can leave you wondering if this is the environment for you. Or "I see my output but how do I get it on paper" can leave you scratching your head. Just knowing the answer can relieve much fear and trepidation.

Whether you use the on-line system or run batch programs, the book is equally valuable.

The book covers a wide variety of topics including: getting data into SAS (external data sources must be converted to SAS datasets); working with SAS data; getting results out of SAS (summarized data or reports); using the SAS macro facility; and obtaining basic statistical results (though SAS is much more than just a statistical tool - here at Purdue it is our primary adhoc Reporting tool for end users).

Each chapter starts with a humorous quote that attracts your attention. For example this quote before Chapter 10 is one I think we can all relate to:

"Problems that go away by themselves come back by themselves"
March E. Davis

I do a lot of work with SMF data using MXG, and of course MXG is built on the SAS framework. I've found this book extremely valuable. Even a "Power User" can learn new tricks! I believe you would find it of value also. It's one of those references you keep close by in your ‘ready reference' library.

For more about this book and to place an order, visit the SAS Web site at: http://support.sas.com/publishing/bbu/companion_site/59216.html