I followed the link and saw, in part, the statement

"

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.

I was a grad student at N C State, SAS' birthplace, in the late 1960's. At that time, the staff consisted of Jim Barr and Jim Goodnight plus someone working on documentation and a couple students. SAS was still in it's infancy when I arrived. The common knowledge then was that the grant used to develop SAS started around 1965, not 1960. Barr was joined by Goodnight a year or so later.

There were "releases" of the early versions during this time but as far as I know, SAS 72 was the first numbered version with a real manual. My copy is packed away so I can't check to see if SAS dates were in use then but I did just look at an early SUGI and I see date formats in use with SAS76..

Nat Wooding

Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE. NET> To Sent by: "SAS(r) SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Discussion" cc <SAS-L@LISTSERV.U GA.EDU> Subject Re: Why Jan 1, 1960?

06/23/2006 08:02 AM

Please respond to Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE. NET>

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 >+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

----------------------------------------- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This electronic message contains information which may be legally confidential and/or privileged and does not in any case represent a firm ENERGY COMMODITY bid or offer relating thereto which binds the sender without an additional express written confirmation to that effect. The information is intended solely for the individual or entity named above and access by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please reply immediately to the sender that you have received the message in error, and delete it. Thank you.