Abstracts and Bio: Andrew Karp/VASUG Nov 7, 2011 Meeting
Andrew Karp, an internationally recognized independent SAS Software consultant and trainer, will give
two in-depth tutorials on core SAS programming tools at the Nov. 7th VASUG meeting Tuckahoe Area
Library located at 1901 Starling Drive in Henrico, VA. These 70-minute “super tutorials” offer key
insights for both new and experienced SAS programmers on how to get the most from the SAS Format
facility and from the powerful MEANS procedure. Here are the details:

Getting the Most from the SAS Format Facility: We all use them, but many SAS programmers
only take advantage of a fraction of the powerful resources available in this part of BASE SAS
Software. Starting with the basics, this tutorial shows you how to use some of the over 1,000
“internal” or “built-in” Formats that are part of your SAS install and then how to create formats
controlling the display of either character or numeric data. We will then learn how to use VALUE
formats to “collapse” or “bin” multiple values of a column/variable in to a “group” or “row” in
your report as well as how to use Input Control Data Sets to assign format labels to variable
values rather than typing them in to a PROC FORMAT step manually. Next, we’ll explore the
power and flexibility of multilabel formats and the wide range of tools available to display
numeric value variables in your SAS-generated output using PICTURE formats. Attending this
presentation will give you in-depth insights in to how to take advantage of the wide range of
resources in the SAS Format facility available to SAS programmers at all experience levels.

PROC MEANS: The Basics and Beyond: Attending this “super” tutorial gives you in-depth
insights in to the wide range of data analysis and management tools available in this extremely
powerful and versatile “workhorse” BASE SAS procedure. Starting with the basics, this
presentation introduces core PROC MEANS capabilities to calculate and report the values of
descriptive statistics and to “group” or “classify” those statistics “by” the values of other
variables. We will also look at how to select (from a total of 32 available) statistics we want
calculated and how to control their display in our output. Then we will move to an in-depth look
at how to use PROC MEANS syntax to create data sets “holding” the statistics and summaries it
computes, and how to customize these data sets using the AUTONAME and AUTOLABEL
options. Next, we’ll explore the often little-known methods available in the PROC to generate
multiple output analytic data sets in a single “pass” through a large data set, and how to speed
the generation of these output data sets using the CHARTYPE option and multiple OUTPUT
Statements. We’ll then go even further to reduce system resources needed to complete these
tasking by learning how to take advantage of the TYPES Statement, and to include extreme
values in our output data sets using the IDMIN and IDMAX options. Last, we’ll see how the
PRELOADFMT and COMPLETETYPES options, as well as the multilabel format facility, provide
even more power to get our work done in less time with PROC MEANS.
 About the Presenter: Andrew Karp is well known to VASUG’s members for his
many presentations to our group over the years. He is a 30-year SAS Software
user who for the past 17 years has had his own SAS Software consulting and
training firm, Sierra Information Services, located in the California wine country.
Andrew has spoken at numerous events for SAS users in a total of eleven
countries and has been an invited speaker at 17 consecutive SAS Global Forum
events. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The George
Washington University in Washington, DC.