I have ordered my learning copy of SAS and it should arrive any day now. I have 5-6 years worth of pharma experience, although not in the clinical trials area, mainly in project support roles in the regulatory section (dossier crunchers). I have spent that past 7-8 years working with Access and Excel VBA. I have a degree in maths but need to brush up on that somewhat as it is a long time since I did it. Could you recommend any good SAS study guides? I'm going to invest in a book on stats to get back up to speed on that front.
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Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.
I preferred version 1! -
What is SAS? -
I found that there are relatively few SAS books about (in the large book shops in Central London).
But I did see some, on Amazon however.
I do have this book:
SAS one day course book
Its okay, concise and the examples use medical/pharm stats. Very small though. Might be a little short...
If you have a high appitude for VBA you should ok with SAS. But is very different to begin with (e.g data step processing). SAS macro is closer to the conventional idea of having functions and Sub routines like in VBA.
Thankfully, I was given all the books bought buy my old company before they were made me redundant (and closed down).Last edited by Boolean; 2 May 2006, 14:44.Comment
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"SAS Programming by Example" is a good introductory tutorial, if a little noddy. Also the "Little SAS book: A Primer". Any book on SAS macros as well.
And the SUGI conference papers are a brilliant resource at www.lexjansen.comHard Brexit now!
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A stupid question - Is SAS difficult to learn? I have taught myself VBA over the past, is SAS hard to get to grips with.
Still waiting for the software to arrive.Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.
I preferred version 1!Comment
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It's hard to get into the SAS.
A navy seal might be a better bet.
HTHComment
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How long is a piece of string?
SAS is a range of products ranging from base SAS - through to SAS Warehouse Administrator and SAS Enterprise Miner (used for data mining). The SAS programming you are thinking of is using base SAS and the SAS data step - this is not difficult to learn provided you remember there is a built in-loop. No-one can master the whole range of SAS products - you have to specialise and learning the data step is certainly the first step. Learning Stats is also useful - and is essential for some roles.Hard Brexit now!
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No SAS is not hard, its just different.
When you learn SAS you start with the basics which is Data step processing. Understanding data step processing, is not hard but it will appear different from the kind of VBA programming you have done before. Its fundamental to learning SAS.
(Although interestingly if you look at the process of how SAS
compiles and executes SAS statements i.e how information is stored in the PDV - then you will see how the underlying C code is in operation which will be more like programming).
Once you get to grips with this then you will be okay, SAS macro is supposedly more advanced SAS. However, you will find this easy because it looks more like the programming you are used to (e.g proceedures, global variables, macro loops, arrays etc..).
Also, there are things to note in SAS as you learn it that might seem strange but its all very logical. For instance, arrays in VBA are pretty straightforward. However, in SAS you have different types of arrays e.g SAS macro arrays are different from arrays used in a datastep etc. And datastep arrays are more like pointers...
Also, when you manipulate data avoid the temptation to simply use a PROC SQL to join/merge datasets. Always try and do this using data step processing. I was in a department once where the entire team were writing huge SQL pass through statements to manipulate data, when a couple of lines of SAS data step code would have done the trick.
After you get your SAS skills upto date. You can actually use your VBA skills to start building apps in Access and Excel that run SAS code/system (as long as you have the SAS dll checked in "references" in the VBA IDE). This is a valuable skill, because alot of SAS programmers aren't able to do this (and alot of VBA people can't use SAS). You can basically then build Excel or Access VBA frontends for your SAS code. The SAS Institute provides white papers on this subject.
I can't really comment on other SAS modules or more advanced topics which you would probably be interested (e.g advanced stats,graphs etc..) Because I haven't used them. BUt if you are solid on Base & macro you should do fine..Comment
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What level of stats would suffice? I did a degree in Maths years ago which I could brush up on. I'm planning on buying a stats a level text book and going through that.Rule Number 1 - Assuming that you have a valid contract in place always try to get your poo onto your timesheet, provided that the timesheet is valid for your current contract and covers the period of time that you are billing for.
I preferred version 1!Comment
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If you have a Maths degree, you should have no problem with the Stats.Originally posted by TonyEnglish
The level varies depending on industry. Basic stats should be enough for pharma / clin. trials. More advanced (multivariate) stats is necessary for marketing/finance.Hard Brexit now!
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