Applied Statistics and the SAS Programming Language (5th Edition) Description:

Applied Statistics and the SAS Programming Language (5th Edition) review:
4 stars (Excellent Introduction) - I just completed a SAS course that used this book. I never used SAS before and found the book to be very useful and informative. The authors show you how to use the built in SAS procedures and provide basic guidance on how to interpret the results. It has a numerous examples which really helped me learn the basics about running t-tests, ANOVA, and regression. Notes: (a) The book does not cover every option available with the SAS procedures - this is actually good in an introductory book because it keeps the reader from getting confused. Don't buy the book expecting a technical programming manual. (b) The book does not cover macro programming (c) the book does not cover the more professional looking graphics procedures e.g. gplot
1 stars (A once great book whose time has passed) - Once upon a time, I could not recommend this book highly enough. That's the problem--"once upon a time". In 2007, this book violates what I consider an overriding consideration for instruction books: Never distract the new user with picky details that s/he'll will rarely need in practice.



The first few chapters are written using INPUT and DATALINES; commands to enter data. For those unfamiliar with SAS, that means the authors enter all of their data as lines of text typed inside their command language. No one works that way any more! It's a hold over from the days of punchcards. Does the new user really need to know that

INPUT ID 1-3 AGE 4-5 GENDER $6;

means "look in columns 1-3 for a numerical id, columns 4-5 for numerical age, and column 6 for a character designating gender"? When the 4-th edition was written, the answer might have been yes, but even then it would have been given grudgingly. For more than a few years, data almost always arrive as data sets that have already been made into SAS files or as spreadsheets that can be imported directly into SAS. This method of data input would not be a fatal flaw if the material were in a later chapter or an appendix, but it's woven throughout the text starting with the first example on page 3.



I would love to see this book updated with a more modern view to how data are processed and analyzed, but I can no longer recommend it in its current form.



Added in edit: Instead, get a copy of "The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Third Edition" by Lora D. Delwiche and Susan J. Slaughter. If I ever get around to reviewing it, I'll give it 4 or 5 stars. In the meantime, there are already a bunch of reviews you can read on the book's own Amazon web page, mostly good, a few bad, for an average of 4 stars.
5 stars (A must-have for beginners) - Two years ago, I did not know anything about SAS and was intimidated by the SAS Users' Guide. This book beat several others and became my key reference book. The book is simple, elegant and entertaining. I have recommended it to several of my colleagues.