Efficient Way to Learn SAS® with Virtually No Cost

Efficient Way to Learn SAS® with Virtually No Cost

Mirjana Stojanovic, Chapel Hill, NC





ABSTRACT

Often people ask how, “How can I learn SAS?” This paper is intended to help answer this question by providing an extensive list of
web resources that I accumulated while I was unemployed and pursuing additional SAS training. I realize that it is not enough to just
read about SAS programming. Experience with SAS software is necessary for a clear understanding of the material presented,
especially the intermediate and advanced material. It is essential to have access to SAS software for practice and practical
experience. The SAS Learning Edition is a great resource for this purpose and it is affordable. Information on the SAS Learning
Edition can be found at http://support.sas.com/rnd/le/index.html . I hope that this list will be useful to all SAS users, both new users
and those who are continuing their education.



INTRODUCTION

SAS training can be accomplished in many ways. Taking courses at SAS Institute or other reputable institutions is effective, but
costly. Some of us cannot afford this type of training and are not affiliated with companies willing to cover the costs. In this
presentation I will focus on how to learn SAS Software cheaply or for free by visiting numerous Web sites and choosing the sites best
suited to your needs.



Some Internet sites are designed for self training and they charge a small fee. Other sites provide content that is free. Using SAS or
the SAS Learning Edition is the best strategy for really learning and getting some practical experience. It is easy to copy code from
these web sites and run it in SAS so that you gain a better understanding.



The web sites below are divided into several sections, but they concentrate on learning SAS Base Software. The official SAS sites
are listed in italics. I have starred some of the sites I found most useful. I hope you will find this list of sites useful, and that it will save
you some time. This paper is available at http://rtpnet.org/~rtsug/articles.html. The easiest way to access these sites would be to
download the paper so you do not have to type the addresses.

SITES FOR LEARNING SAS SOFTWARE

Tutorial for SAS 8.2, the
University of Reading.

http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~snqcolin/SAS82tutorial.pdf

Examples from SAS
Programming by Example

By Cody and Pass

http://www.geocities.com/statbookstore/sas/sasex/sasex.html


Efficient way to learn basics
of SAS Base.

Penn State University

http://www.stat.psu.edu/%7Ejianchu/STAT480.htm#Lecture%20Notes



Data Management.

West Virginia University

http://www.wvu.edu/~support/training/classmat/sas/datamgt.pdf

SAS Intermediate course.
West Virginia University

http://www.wvu.edu/~support/training/classmat/sas/sas2.pdf

SAS in Research Data
Management

http://www.rhoworld.com/index_services_biostats.htm

Intro to SAS Data Step.

Inst. for Clinical and
Epidemiologic Research

http://hsrd.durham.med.va.gov/Biostat/training/SAS%20presentation%20v10.pdf

Intro to SAS Procedures

http://hsrd.durham.med.va.gov/Biostat/training/presentation%20II%20v10.pdf

Several SAS courses in
PDF format

NIH, Maryland

http://support.cit.nih.gov/statsoft/training/classrm/courstmp.htm

Advanced SAS Courses
and Tips

http://ifasstat.ufl.edu/sta4702/pdf/SASIntro.pdf

Department of Medical
Epidemiology and
Biostatistics

Karolinska Institute

http://www.pauldickman.com/teaching/sas/index.html

http://www.pauldickman.com/teaching/sas/sas_tips_cleaning8.pdf

Comprehensive SAS Sites
Including Tutorial

http://www.firstobs.com

Fundamentals of SAS and
Data Management.

Univ. of California,
Academic Tech. Services

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/modules/default.htm

Biostatistical Computing

http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rjohnson/bios524/Cody%20Notes/index.html




using SAS.

VA Commonwealth Univ.

Practical Data Management
and Statistical Computing
using SAS.

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bepi691f/outline.html

Computing with SAS
Software.

DePaul CTI

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/rsettimi/328/Week1/SASlecture1.ppt

Intermediate SAS Course.

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/sas/training/v8/

PROC TABULATE and
much more.

by Lauren Haworth

http://www.laurenhaworth.com/pubs_current.htm#ODStheBasics



SAS in 60 minutes.

East Carolina University ,
Greenville, NC

http://core.ecu.edu/econ/holmesg/econ6302/sasin60.pdf

Tutorial on Base SAS.
Texas Medical Center,
Houston, Texas

http://condor.bcm.tmc.edu/Statistics/SAS_Guidelines.html#top

SAS Online Tutorials- Beg.
SAS Programming.

University of California -
Santa Cruz

http://www.datainfoworks.com/beginsas/beginsas.html

Additional SAS Topics.

University of Louisiana

http://helpdesk.louisiana.edu/Guides/Statistics/add_sas_topics.html

Links to SAS Resources.

Cornell University

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/computing/



SAS Sample Programs.
VA Commonwealth Univ.

http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rjohnson/bios524/sam ple_programs.htm

Adv. Data Manipulation

by Greg Jenkins

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/statistics/software/sas/2002seminar/advanced_data_manipulation.pdf

Introduction to the SAS
System. Phil Spector

Univ. of Texas at Arlington

http://www.uta.edu/depken/grad/5336/general/sas.pdf



SAS Programming
Workshop.

By Doug Hemken

http://www.dacc.wisc.edu/seminars/SAS%20programming%20Outline.htm#S1

Proc MEANS, SUMMAR.Y
by Andrew Karp



http://www.hasug.org/HASUG%20_PROC_MEANS_Enhancements.pdf

http://www2.sas.com/proceedings/sugi27/p018-27.pdf
http://www.dasconsultants.com/papers/CarpMcQProcMeans.pdf

SAS for Windows -

The Data Step.

http://www.utexas.edu/cc/stat/tutorials/sasWds/

Basic SAS Dataset
Management by R. Yaffe

http://www.nyu.edu/its/socsci/Docs/sasintro.htm

SAS Basics.

Yale University

http://statlab.stat.yale.edu/help/doco/sas_intro.jsp#P6






Base SAS.

Penn State, Population
Research Institute

http://www.pop.psu.edu/help/cacpri/base/index.htm



SAS Talk - By Ian

Whitlock INTERNET and
Web Resources

http://www.prochelp.com/

TS 486 – Quick Reference
– Functions, Formats and
Informats



http://www.albany.edu/~msz03/epi514/papers/ts486.pdf

SAS Examples: programs,
files and results.

Univ. of Western Ontario,
Ontario Canada

http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/sscl/statsexamples/sas/datafiles.html





Using SAS to analyze
statistical data. Univ. of
Waterloo, Canada

http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~jack/

http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~jack/advanced_sas/asas.ppt

SAS Programming.
Carolina Population Ctr.

UNC at Chapel Hill

http://www.cpc.unc.edu/services/computer/presentations/sasclass99/

Sample SAS programs,
Step by Step.

Univ. of Washington

http://depts.washington.edu/sasclass/index.html

Error Diagnostics.

Virginia Tech

http://filebox.vt.edu/cc/sas/errormsg.html



SAS Code examples,
Tutorials, SAS topics.

University of Michigan

http://www.umich.edu/~cscar/software/sas.html

Gentle Intro. to SAS

by Frank DiIorio

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~taf2/diiorio.htm

SAS Workshops, Common
Errors.

College of Agriculture,
University of Idaho

http://www.uidaho.edu/ag/statprog/sas/sas.htm

SAS Training: Seminar
Handouts and Info.

Univ. of Illinois at Chicago

http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/stats/seminars.html#3

SAS Statistical Links.

Dr. Wuensch's

East Carolina University.

http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/wuenschk/sas.htm

Introduction to SAS.
University of North Texas

http://www.unt.edu/rss/class/sas1/



Take a look at ‘downloads’

http://www.spikeware.com/



SAS Companion for the
Microsoft Windows

http://jeff-lab.queensu.ca/stat/sas/sasman/sashtml/win/index.htm




Environment.

SAS language and
Procedure.

Queens University, CA

http://jeff-lab.queensu.ca/stat/sas/



DATA Step Functions

http://www.geocities.com/statbookstore/sas/saslang/function.html

SAS lectures.

Stanford University

http://www.stanford.edu/group/consult-stat/SAS/sas.leland.html

An Intro. to Exporting
SAS/Graph Output to
Microsoft Office

http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/technote/ts674/ts674.html



Quick description of SAS
Graphing Technique.

http://www.unc.edu/atn/statistical/classes/handouts/sas_graphing.pdf

Getting started with SAS for
Windows.

University of Arkansas

http://www.uark.edu/compserv/training/shortcrs/handouts/sas_handout.ppt



Windows SAS Tutorial

Univ. Texas, Austin

http://www.utexas.edu/cc/stat/tutorials/sas8/sas8.html



Technical support
resources

http://support.sas.com/techsup/intro.html



SAS-L Archives

University of Georgia

http://www.listserv.uga.edu/archives/sas-l.html

SAS Customer Support

http://support.sas.com/

SAS Online Samples

http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/code.samples.html

SAS Online Resources

http://www.sas.com/misc/tutor/resources.html

Shaping Your Data in SAS.

Univ. of Pennsylvania

http://www.pop.upenn.edu/cores/computing/help/faqs/sas/lecture.html



SAS® Online Programming
Guide

University of Houston

http://nas.cl.uh.edu/spears/sas/guide/guide.html





SITES FOR LEARNING SAS SOFTWARE (continues)

The University In
Maryland

Data Analysis Using
SAS Software



http://www.research.umbc.edu/~stjohnso/soc497/

Learning about SAS
programming

http://www.globalstatements.com/tech/learn.html

California State
University

SAS Statistical links

http://www.ssdba.calstatela.edu/stats/links_sas.html




Massachusetts Institute
of technology – Athena
Consulting, SAS
Answers

http://web.mit.edu/answers/sas/index.html





Web-based Tutorial

http://www.indiana.edu/~statmath/stat/sas/win/index.html

STATISTICAL
TRAINING ON THE
WEB

http://www.bioss.sari.ac.uk/~mike/webtra.htm#sas

Free Statistical
Software

http://members.aol.com/johnp71/javasta2.html

Purdue University

General Introduction to
SAS- training-

http://www.adpc.purdue.edu/SAS/tech/training/Welcome.html

Cornell University

Frequently asked
questions

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/computing/SASQA.shtml

Cornell University

Links to other SAS
Resources

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/computing/SASOther.shtml

Griffith University,
Australia

SAS Preliminaries

http://www.ens.gu.edu.au/stats/sashelp/prelim.htm

SAS Help

http://www.ens.gu.edu.au/stats/sashelp/sashelp.htm

University of Bristol

Introduction to SAS

http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/selfhelp/documentation/k61/k61.pdf

Midwest SAS User
Group, 10th Annual
Conference

http://www.kcasug.org/mwsug1999/index.html

JADE Tech Inc.

Papers of interest to
SAS users

http://www.jadetek.com/pubs.htm

SAS papers

http://www.cyassociates.com/examples.htm

Andrew Karp

Past Presentations

http://sierrainformation.com/html/active/Past_PresentationsGrid.php

The Evaluator’s
Statistical handbook

http://oig.hhs.gov/organization/OEI/other/statistics.pdf

University of Auckland-
New Zealand

http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~u475301/2003/ch1.pdf




Intro to the SAS

SAS® Examples

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/statistics/sasclass/examples.htm

Views 2003

http://www.amadeus.co.uk/index.html?content=http://www.amadeus.co.uk/events_resources/conferences/views.html

University of
Massachusetts,
Introduction to SAS

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bepi691f/notes/

University of California,
Los Angeles, SAS
Class Notes

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/library/default.htm

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/notes2/

Manchester Information
& Associated Services,
Introduction to SAS

http://www.mimas.ac.uk/stats/sas/intro.html







University of California,
Los Angeles,
Resources to help you
learn and use SAS

http://statcomp.ats.ucla.edu/sas/

Virginia SAS Users
Group, Proc report

http://vasug.org/Proceedings/2003-06/Presentations/VASUG2003-06-
Proc_Report_files/frame.htm

http://vasug.org/Links.htm

Practical Data
Management and
Statistical Computing

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bioep691/lec1.html

ODS Tips and Tricks

http://www.basas.com/lauren_slides.ppt

The Queen’s Medical
Center, Honolulu, HI

Doing More with PROC
FREQ Using Options
and ODS

ttp://www.wuss.org/Conference/papers/T09.pdf




SNUG: Tips

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisnat/chris/snug-98q1/snugttt-tips.html



Old Dominion
University, SAS
Structure

http://asellus.cee.odu.edu/sas/sas_gen.php

Everything you want to
know about MERGE but
were afraid to ask

http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/technote/ts644.html

http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/technote/

http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/technote/ts486.txt

SAS software courses

*LIVE WEB*

"Tipped Off" Archive

Data Analysis Papers
and Presentations

http://support.sas.com/training/us/ibtlist.html

http://support.sas.com/publishing/spnews/tiparchive.html

http://support.sas.com/rnd/app/papers/papers_da.html

SAS User Group
International- SUGI
Proceedings

SAS European Users'
Group International-
SEUGI

http://www.lex-jansen.demon.nl/sugi/

http://www.lexjansen.com/sugi/html/25.html

Online Statistical
Textbooks and Courses

http://www.uni-koeln.de/themen/Statistik/onlinebooks.html

Veterans Affairs
Information Resource
Center

http://www.virec.research.med.va.gov

Creating RTF-Output
Using ODS and PROC
TEMPLATE

http://www.bluegumdata.com.au/suga2001.pdf




Tips from the techies,
SAS Institute Australia

http://www.suga.aust.com/2001/papers/sas/SUGA2001--Tips_from_the_Techies--
MichaelDixon--SAS.pdf

Chunqin Deng's
Various SAS Topics

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/campus/4460/knowledge/

STATISTICAL
TRAINING ON THE
WEB

http://www.bioss.sari.ac.uk/~mike/webtra.htm#sas

Introduction to SAS

University of Albany



http://www.albany.edu/~msz03/epi514/notes/

Various SAS Topics

http://homepage.mac.com/magdelina/.Public/utl.html

Personal SAS WEB
Pages

http://www.prochelp.com/Category_2.htm

Arizona State
University

Various SAS topics

http://www.asu.edu/sas/

DePaul University,
Chicago, IL, Intro to
SAS

http://condor.depaul.edu/~commerce/tech/sas_p.htm

SUMMARY OF SAS
PROCEDURES

http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Neher/biostatistics/exercise2.pdf

University of Toledo,
SAS procedure Guide

http://www.msb.edu/training/statistics/SAS/books/pguide/bkindex.htm





SAS TRAINING ON THE WEB

Self-Paced e-Learning from
SAS Institute

http://support.sas.com/training/elearn/selfpaced.html



Self-Paced Computer

http://www.staffkit.com/training/index.htm




Training for SAS

SAS Online Training
Courses

http://www.e-learningcenter.com/sas.htm

Web based SAS training

http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/subcatresults.xml?cat1=9&cat2=26

SAS Tutorial Online

http://computer-training.8m.com/sas.html

Set of 9 SAS courses

http://www.mindleaders.com/products/tgen.html

SAS online courses

http://www.trainingcenter.com/

SAS online training

http://www.tutorgig.com/showurls.jsp?group=4189&index=0

SAS online training

http://www.tutorialusa.com/sas.html

SAS online training

http://www.online-course.net/

SAS online training (7
courses)

http://www.inforingpress.com/recommendations/computertraining.htm

Audio-visual SAS online
training

http://distancelearning.ksi.edu/demo/ma377/lecture.htm



Certifications from SAS
Institute Inc.

http://gocertify.com/vendors/SASInstituteInc.shtml









SAS FAQs

SAS

http://support.sas.com/techsup/faq/products.html

SAS

http://support.sas.com/techsup/faq/gen_sas.html

Univ. of Southern CA

http://www.usc.edu/isd/doc/statistics/sas/faq/

Cornell

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/FAQ/SAS/
http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/computing/online.shtml#sas

http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/computing/SASQA.shtml

Univ. of Texas

http://www.utexas.edu/cc/faqs/stat/

Univ. of Kentucky

http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/PoliSci/tutorials/sas_faq.html

Holland Numerics

http://www.hollandnumerics.co.uk/sasfaq/SASFAQ.HTM

Univ. of Pennsylvania

http://www.pop.upenn.edu/cores/computing/help/faqs/sasfaq.html

UCLA

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/faq/

NC State University

http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/sas/faq/






Papers by Clarence Wm.
Jackson,

South Central SAS User
Group

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/CJac/list.htm

North East SAS User Group

http://www.nesug.org

South Central SAS User
Group

http://www.scsug.com/

Schedule of U.S. SAS Users
Group Conferences

http://support.sas.com/usergroups/namerica/allregconf.html

South east SAS User Group

http://www.sesug.org

Western users of SAS
Software

http://www.wuss.org/

The Pharmaceutical Industry
SAS® Users Group

http://www.pharmasug.org/

Local SAS User Groups in
the Midwest

http://www.mwsug.org/links/links.htm




CODING TIPS AND TRICKS

Code Samples and Technical
Tips

http://support.sas.com/sassamples/index.html

http://support.sas.com/sassamples/quicktips/index.html

How to Write Efficient
Programs

By Frank DiIorio

http://www.aimsco.com/pdf/efficiency.ppt

Counting the number of
missing values of a variable.

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~taf2/missfmt.txt

News, hints, and tips



http://www.views-uk.demon.co.uk/index.htm

Phil Mason’s Site



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philipmason/



TIPS from various sources



http://members.tripod.com/~schick/sas_tips.html






Dating tips from SAS

by David Hopkins

http://www.dc-sug.org/dcmar97.pdf

SAS Tips



http://www.depts.washington.edu/sasclass/index.html



SAS bits and bytes



http://support.sas.com/sassamples/bitsandbytes/index.html

TIPS



http://support.sas.com/sassamples/quicktips/index.html

Various tips



http://www.sys-seminar.com/SASNewsletter.htm



SAS code, tips, jobs and
much more

http://www.sconsig.com

Tips, tricks and more from
PW Consulting

http://tips.pwcons.com/

Tips and more from
CompuCraft

http://homepage.mac.com/magdelina/.Public/utl.html

The best samples from
various SAS BBUs

http://support.sas.com/publishing/pdf/

Various topics from York
University, ON, Canada

http://www.psych.yorku.ca/lab/psy3030/programs.htm



Tips & Techniques by Phil
Mason

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philipmason/



Hints and Tips in the RTSL
e-Newsletter

http://www.ratcliffe.co.uk/note_colon/index.htm

SAS Tips



http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~alex/computer/sas/sas.html

New SAS User Group



http://www.techieindex.com/sas/faq/faq_home.asp?type=GENERAL

Tips from Hardy Consulting
Services, Canada

http://www.schardy.qc.ca/en/trucs.html









WHERE TO LOOK FOR JOBS



http://www.jobvertise.com/



http://www.centerwatch.com/careers/jwads.html



http://www.philasug.org/



http://www.dice.com



http://www.medzilla.com



http://www.hirehealth.com/



http://www.monster.com



http://chronicle.com/jobs/



http://airweb.org/jobs.html






http://www.statisticsjobs.com/events.htm



http://www.sas-jobs.com/list.asp







RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND MAGAZINES

Magazines

http://support.sas.com/documentation/periodicals/index.html

Books by users

http://support.sas.com/publishing/bbu/authorline_archive.html

Geometry Online Learning Center

http://www.geometry.net/computer_bk/unix.html

Preparation for the SAS Certification Exams

http://sas.certifiedprogrammer.com/

The SAS Certified Professional Program

http://www.certmag.com/issues/dec00/dept_specialtycert.cfm

Book selections by InterVelopers

http://www.wargaming.net/Programming/75/Statistical_Computing_index.htm

Books on the Web

http://books.ontheweb.com/shop/sas.html

SAS Magazines and Newsletter

http://support.sas.com/documentation/periodicals/

Global Statements by Rick Aster

http://www.globalstatements.com

SAS Users’ Bookstore

http://www.sasusers.com/bookstore/default.htm

A! Apress bookstore

http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=126

SAS Com Magazine

http://www.sas.com/news/sascom/

SAS Publishing

http://support.sas.com/publishing/index.html





COMPUTER DICTIONARY FOR SAS PROGRAMMERS

Rick Aster

http://www.globalstatements.com/d/index.html







CONCLUSION

There are many different ways to learn to program with SAS software. What is best for you may depend on your budget, your training
needs and the way you prefer to learn. I have chosen to take full advantage of the SAS programming information on the web. Many
people have spent a great deal of time creating sites that explain SAS Software and provide coding examples. I am convinced that is
possible to learn the basics about SAS software this way. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money if you are persistent in searching
the web and practicing with the SAS software. After almost four years of studying and working with SAS Software, I am able to
compare various methods of learning SAS, and I recommend this method, especially for beginners.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all the people who put their documents on the Web so we can search and find useful information about SAS. I
would especially like to thank Dr. Kevin Kelly, University of Iowa, who gave me the initial encouragement to write this paper.




AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Mirjana Stojanovic

91A Weaver Dairy Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

(919) 360-0618 mstojanovic@nc.rr.com



SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the
USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration.



Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies.