Date:         Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:30:35 -0500
Reply-To:     Doug Zirbel <doug_zirbel@MSN.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Doug Zirbel <doug_zirbel@MSN.COM>
Subject:      What SAS Programmers Don't Know -- But Should

This is a re-post; it occurred to me that my original title, "Experienced
SAS Programmers..." looked a lot like one of the many SAS programmer
recruiting posts.

So, picking up a thread started last year.  Below is a list of the replies
you-all and others sent in (THANKS!!).

Please vote on your top 10 (the list is below).  It would be helpful to
assign a 10 to the most important and 1 to least etc, or just cut and paste
your top 10 in descending order.  If you want to add your reasoning --
please do, and of course you can add "other" categories.

I'll be using your replies in my 2002 SUGI paper, "10 Things Experienced SAS
Programmers Don't Know -- But Should", and will give due credit to each of
you who answer this.

HERE'S THE LIST
Macros - basic knowledge of macro language
Macros - knowing how to create and use macro var "arrays"
Macros - knowing how to write macros that write SAS programs
SCL - basic knowledge of SAS-AF SCL
SCL - SCL Functions usable in e.g., Base SAS data steps
SQL Dictionary tables - basics of retrieving SAS metadata
SAS IntrNet - basic knowledge of
SAS Help - How to get it
Data Step Vector - how it works
Data step - basic knowledge of
Data step reports - "Data _null_" report writing
Display Manager - basic knowlege of
Debugging Techniques - DEBUG facility and other techniques
Data file manipulation - INFILE, UPDATE, SET intricacies etc
ODS - capabilities and more broadly, SAS8 improvements
Your Operating System native (and other) languages - REXX, unix scripts,
VBScript, Syncsort
Proc Format
Proc SQL
Proc Summary/Means
Proc Freq
Proc Tabulate
Proc Report
Proc Transpose
Scan()
Index()
Substr()
Efficiency
Arrays / matrices
Web technology - HTML, JavaScript, SAS IntrNet, etc
Configuration Management
Relational Database Design
Structured programming concepts
System Development Life Cycle processes
Understanding how programs translate into machine operations