For members of SAS-L in the Tri-State area who are also members of the New York Area SAS Users Group (NYASUG):

The next meeting of the New York Area SAS Users Group will be on Wednesday, June 9th, 1999. This will be a half day meeting with 3 scheduled presentations. The theme of this meeting will be SQL and "mining the wealth of information" found on the NESUG Proceedings CD.

This meeting is being held at the Bank of New York. We thank BONY for once again hosting us. Directions to the BONY site are at the end of this text.

The following are abstracts of the scheduled presentations:

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Creating/Using NESUG Proceedings on CD

By Mike Zdeb

Beginning in 1997, the proceedings of the annual Northeast SAS User Group (NESUG) Meeting were provided on CD. The CD was produced using the Adobe Acrobat package and all papers presented at the meeting can be searched in full-text mode for words, phrases, etc. The CD also provides a copy of the Adobe Acrobat software needed to view, search, and print papers. The process of putting together the CD (from paper solicitation through CD creation) will be discussed, as will how to use the full-text search capabilities of Adobe Acrobat.

Biography

Mike Zdeb is a research scientist in the Division of Family Health at the New York State Department of Health and an Assistant Professor in the epidemiology program at the School of Public Health at the State University of NY at Albany. He conducts research on public health topics using the various databases maintained by the health department. Mike specializes in computer graphics and in the computer- assisted mapping of health data. He has presented papers on many occasions for local SAS user groups, NESUG, and SUGI.

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An Introduction to the SQL Procedure

By Sue Freimuth

This tutorial will introduce the SQL (Structured Query Language) procedure through a series of simple examples. We will initially discuss choosing variables (SELECT) from SAS(r) data sets (FROM) where specific criteria are met (WHERE). We will then discuss calculating and formatting values. Once the basic SQL syntax has been covered we will discuss more advanced features of SQL such as grouping and ordering data, selecting based on summary values, applying CASE logic and simple joins. Finally we will make a comparison of simple SQL queries to base SAS. This tutorial will provide attendees with all the tools necessary to write simple SQL queries. It is intended for SAS programmers who have no prior exposure to the SQL procedure as well as those new to SAS.

Biography

Sue Freimuth was detoured from a career as a 'real' (COBOL) programmer when she was introduced to SAS about 10 years ago. She considers this a happy accident. Since then, she has been a consultant to many companies and organizations, specializing in the design and development of complete SAS data access and analysis systems for a variety of businesses including finance, credit risk management, healthcare, insurance, and manufacturing. For the past five years, she has also worked with CY Associates as a trainer in SAS programming. She lives in a little corner of heaven in Connecticut.

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A Macro Using the SQL INTO: Feature to Retrieve Data from Large SAS/DB2 Databases

By Thiru Satchi

A macro that applies the SQL INTO: feature to create lists of key values is presented. It was developed to overcome performance limitations encountered when transferring data between systems. This paper demonstrates how this macro, along with the SAS Pass-Through facility, can be used to retrieve data from DB2 Relational Database Management System (RDMS) tables and to convert them into a SAS dataset. If these key variables are indexed in a DB2 table, the macro will significantly decrease the required programming and computer processing time.

Biography

Thiru Satchi has been a Research Analyst in the Health Services Evaluation department at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts for the past six years. Moreover, he teaches SAS to Blue Cross and Blue Shield employees and is on the Steering Committee of the Boston Area SAS User's Group. For more than eight years, Thiru also served on the Wentworth Institute of Technology Adjunct Faculty as a statistics lecturer in the mathematics department. He has a B.S in Mathematics and Computer Science and an M.S. in Statistics.

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The agenda for the June 9th meeting is:

8:30 - 09:00 Coffee and Bagels

9:00 - 10:00 Creating / Using NESUG Proceedings On CD Mike Zdeb

10:00 - 10:30 Break and Random Access

10:30 - 11:30 An Introduction To The SQL Procedure Sue Freimuth

11:30 - 12:30 A Macro Using The SQL "INTO:" Feature To Retrieve Data From Large SAS/DB2 Databases Thiru Satchi

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Directions

Bank of New York 10th Floor Auditorium 101 Barclay Street New York, NY 10286

The Bank of New York is located one block north of the World Trade Center between Greenwich and West Streets, Barclay and Park Place. The main entrance is on Greenwich/Park Place. For longtime members, this is just north of our old location at the World Financial Center.

By SUBWAY

Take the IND (A, C, E) to Chambers Street/World Trade Center stop exit at Park Place, walk 2 blocks west to Greenwich. West side IRT (1 or 9) to Chambers Street, walk 1 block west to Greenwich and three blocks south to Park Place, IRT (2 or 3) to Park Place, walk 2 blocks west to Park Place. East side IRT (4 or 5) to Broadway Nassau, walk north to Park Place and west to Greenwich. BMT (R or N) to Cortlandt Street/World Trade Center. Walk west to Greenwich and north to Park Place.

By BUS

M9, M10 or M22 to Battery Park City.

By CAR

Take West Street (West Side Highway) and turn onto Vesey Street (1 block south of Barclay). Parking is available at the World Trade Center.

>From NEW JERSEY

Take the Path train to World Trade Center and then walk north.

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For further information about this meeting, or the New York Area SAS Users Group, please contact the group's liaison:

Jean LaFrance FISA 450 / 460 West 33rd Street New York, NY 10001 Phone: (212) 857-1435 E-Mail: JcLaFrance@Aol.Com