I don't think the IBM 360 made an introduction until sometime in 1965. In 1960, I think the big iron of the day was the Univac. And no, I wasn't programming on either one of those back then either.

Phil "Univac" Rack www.minequest.com

-----Original Message----- From: Arthur Tabachneck [mailto:art297@NETSCAPE.NET] Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 8:03 AM To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: Re: Why Jan 1, 1960?

I don't recall anyone mentioning the following, as yet, but found it while looking through the archives:

http://www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0105a&L=sas-l&D=0&P=1888

"Paula M. Adkins" wrote:

> >My questions are just the opposite. Why did SAS choose 1960 as > >their base? > > John, as I recall from when I took the "SAS Fundamentals: A Programming > Approach" class, the reason why SAS chose 1960 as their base is because > January 1, 1960, is the date Dr. Jim Goodnight, founder of SAS, developed > SAS on an IBM system.

Art --------- On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:40:16 -0400, Michael Raithel <michaelraithel@WESTAT.COM> wrote:

>Dear SAS-L-ers, > >Paula posted the following: > >> Hello all, >> Sorry if this has been asked and answered before but I couldn't find >> the answer. >> >> Why is Jan 1, 1960 the starting point for the SAS date count? What is >> the significance of that date? >> > >Paula, you have received any number of theories from fellow SAS-L-ers. I believe that I have narrowed it down to the SAS Institute honoring one of these important events that transpired on January 1st, 1960: > > Bank of France issues new franc, worth 20¢ > > Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France > > Johnny Cash plays first of many free concerts behind bars > > Montserrat adopts constitution > > US census at 179,245,000 > > Nepal establishing diplomatic relations with Malaysia > > The release of any of the following movies: Pepe, the Grass is Greener, The Apartment, > Elmer Gantry, Tall Story, or Exodus > >...however, I am not sure exactly which one it is. > >Paula, best of luck in getting your date question answered! > > >I hope that this suggestion proves helpful now, and in the future! > >Of course, all of these opinions and insights are my own, and do not reflect those of my organization or my associates. All SAS code and/or methodologies specified in this posting are for illustrative purposes only and no warranty is stated or implied as to their accuracy or applicability. People deciding to use information in this posting do so at their own risk. > >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >Michael A. Raithel >"The man who wrote the book on performance" >E-mail: MichaelRaithel@westat.com > >Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the MVS Environment > >Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the OS/390 and z/OS Environments, Second Edition >http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=58172 > >Author: The Complete Guide to SAS Indexes >http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=60409 > >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the >tongue you may never get over. - Benjamin Franklin >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++