The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Fourth Edition Review
The Little SAS Book has received a small number of very negative reviews, and, as one of the authors, I just want to say to those people that I'm very sorry they were so disappointed. Let me be the first to admit that no book--including The Little SAS Book--can meet the needs of every reader.
As for the accusation that the book is informal in tone, I can only say, "Guilty!" The title of this book makes it clear that it is intended to be informal, friendly, and accessible.
Another reviewer states, "If you have experience in either programming or SAS you will outgrow this book in a couple days." I'm sorry you feel that way, but I can attest that not everyone shares your view. SAS programmers with decades of experience have told me that they used this book to review before taking the SAS certification base exam. One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was from a developer at SAS Institute who told me that he uses our book when he writes SAS programs! Heck, I use it too. SAS is such a big language that nobody can remember the exact syntax of every option. Lora Delwiche and I designed this book to be the kind of reference that we would like to use. This book is so well respected that for many years a copy of the book was shipped with every copy of SAS software. That stopped only because SAS software is now delivered via the Internet.
If you are the kind of person who prefers a more formal style, then please don't buy this book. There are many other sources of information about SAS software. These include the SAS Help and Documentation provided with the software, extensive help on SAS Institute's customer support web site, and many wonderful conference papers. The best source for conference papers is a site owned by Lex Jansen. I am not allowed to include links in this review, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding these web sites.
I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors. Happy SAS-ing!
The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Fourth Edition Feature
- ISBN13: 9781599947259
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Fourth Edition Overview
Now in its fourth edition, The Little SAS Book is a classic, helping many people learn SAS programming. The book's friendly, easy-to-read style gently introduces readers to the most commonly used features of the SAS language. Topics include basic SAS concepts such as the DATA and PROC steps, inputting data, modifying and combining data sets, summarizing data, producing reports, and debugging SAS programs. Each topic is presented in a self-contained two-page layout complete with examples and graphics. This clear and concise format enables new users to get up and running quickly, while the examples allow readers to type in the program and see it work!
New topics in the fourth edition include ODS Graphics for statistical procedures, PROC SGPLOT for graphics, creating new variables in PROC REPORT with a COMPUTE block, WHERE= data set option, SORTSEQ=LINGUISTIC option in PROC SORT, and more functions, including ANYALPHA, CAT, PROPCASE, and YRDIF.
Available at Amazon $49.95 Check It Now!!
Special Price For Now $37.59 Check It Now!!
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jun 01, 2010 18:45:23
No comments:
Post a Comment