Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 13:04:20 EST
Reply-To: Gerry <STATMAN@PACEVM.DAC.PACE.EDU>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Gerry <STATMAN@PACEVM.DAC.PACE.EDU>
Organization: Dept of Academic Computing, Pace University
Subject: NYASUG Meeting -- Final Reminder
One last reminder !
For members of SAS-L in the Tri-State area who are also members of
the New York Area SAS Users Group (NYASUG):
The first meeting in 1997 of the New York Area SAS Users Group will be
on Wednesday, January 15th. Due to scheduling conflicts, the meeting
WILL NOT be held at our usual meeting site at Merrill Lynch.
NOTE: The NYASUG newsletter listed our usual meeting site at the
Merrill Lynch building in the World Financial Center.
Metropolitan Life Insurance will host this meeting at its Madison Ave
building (23rd St). This is NYASUG's first time at MetLife, and we thank
them for hosting this meeting. Directions to the MetLife building
appear later in this note.
This will be a half day meeting, with 3 scheduled presentations. The
theme of this meeting will an "Applications Showcase", overviews of
production applications written by NYASUG members.
The following are abstracts of the scheduled presentations:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Implementing A Bahavior Score Model Using A SAS To COBOL Translator
By David Wolovick
The input to the SAS-to-COBOL Translator is the SAS code used to
develop and validate Behavior Score models. The output is COBOL
code for the MVS production systems where the scores will actually
be calculated on live accounts.
Traditionally, the model developers provide written documentation
or specifications to the COBOL programmers and analysts. There are
several problems with that approach:
* Misunderstandings are inevitable when the definitions and logic
of one computer language is translated into English and then
retranslated into another computer language.
* After the design phase, the actual coding of any program is a
tedious clerical task, prone to error. With Scoring models, the
number of values, ranges, etc., which need to be hard coded are
staggering.
* Incremental development is generally not supported, that is, until
all the Scorecards are provided, coding and testing will not begin.
The SAS-to-COBOL Translator is an attempt to address those issues, so
that the time required to implement a new set of Scorecards can be
decreased dramatically.
Biography
David Wolovick is Data Center Director of the New York City Board of
Education. He has previously worked at Chase Manhattan Bank and
Citibank Credit Cards, where he developed MIS for Credit Risk and
marketing. Before that, he was director of the Bureau of Supplies
for the NYC Board of Education. His involvement in data processing
began over 20 years ago, when he taught himself COBOL and OS/JCL
after being given a totally unacceptable implementation time. A
hands-on manager, he has only recently discovered the robustness
of SAS. Dave is a graduate of Harvard College and a former Naval
officer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Application Overview: The "EVENT" Program
By Gerard T. Pauline
This program extracts data from a database of permanent SAS datasets,
converting it to raw data format for export to a FORTRAN-based software
system used in "event" studies of stock market transactions.
In "event" studies, data is extracted using a set of base dates that
are lagged (days coming before the base date) and lead (days coming
after the base date).
This program demonstrates:
- Use of macro windows to retrieve control parameters, validating
the values entered by the user and handling/recovery from bad
data entries via a messaging dialogue with the user. Macro
windows are available in base SAS on all platforms.
- How the date "lags" and "leads" are computed, and how a "bad"
base date is handled (the values are edited on input with a
"custom" format).
- Use of SET/POINT to determine the first and last trading day
values, which will be used as the upper and lower bounds in
the trading days array.
- Executing host system commands, dataset indexing.
- Use of SET with the KEY= statement for direct access from
a lookup file.
Also presented will be a discussion of two adjunct programs: one that
creates a lookup table for the trading dates and the other a REXX
program used to engage this program.
Biography
Gerry Pauline is a Programmer / Analyst with the Department of Academic
Computing at Pace University, where he oversees applications development.
A SAS user for 9 years, he implements and supports database and informa-
tion systems development in PL/I, REXX, the SAS System and C.
Presently, he is very involved in the university's World Wide Web and
Intranet initiatives. Current programming interests include the Java
language and VRML.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using The SAS/SQL Enhancements
By David Mabey
Structured Query Langauge (SQL) is a standard that many large data
storage systems use for data manipulation. While most vendors comply
with the ISO SQL standards (more or less), many have enhancements
that significantly extend the functionality of SQL in their
environments. SAS Institute has empowered its version of SQL with
many of the features that have made traditional SAS programs so
successful. The result is a very powerful SQL with capabilities
that are often unrealized. This paper touches on some of those
features and gives examples of their use.
Biography
Dave is a Senior Systems Analyst at Reader's Digest with Quantative
Analysis and Corporate List Research. He has been SASing for 17
years.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The agenda for the January 15th meeting is:
08:30 - 09:00 Continental Breakfast
09:00 - 09:45 Implementing A Behavior Score Model Using A SAS to
COBOL Translator
09:45 - 10:30 An Application Overview: The "EVENT" Program
10:30 - 11:00 Break & Random Access
11:00 - 12:00 Using the SAS/SQL Enhancements
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location: MetLife is at 1 Madison Ave in Manhattan,
between 23rd and 24th streets. There are two
entrances to the building, one on Madison Ave,
the other on Park Avenue (the building occupies
the entire block). The meeting is in the Lobby
Auditorium.
Subway: 23rd and Lexington on the East Side
From Grand Central Station and East 42nd St,
take the IRT East Side #5 or #6 to 23rd street.
Exit is on the Park Avenue side.
23rd and 5th Ave - BMT line
From West 42nd street & Time Square take the
downtown BMT local to 23rd Street. Exit is the
junction of Broadway and 5th Ave. Walk east
through the park to Madison Avenue.
Path Trains: To World Trade Center and then
take BMT local uptown; from 34th Street, take
downtown BMT subway.
Bus: Any bus running uptown on Madison Ave or downtown
on 5th Ave.
Car: From West Side highway go east on 23rd street
until you get to Madison Ave. From the FDR,
go west on 23rd street to Madison.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further information about this meeting, or the New York Area SAS
Users Group, please contact the group's liaison:
Jean LaFrance
FISA
Phone: (212) 857-1435
E-Mail: Lafrance@Iris.Rfmh.Org
