The document provides an overview of SAS, including: 1) SAS is both a programming language and a company. The language is designed for data access, manipulation, and analysis and runs on major platforms. The company is a leading software provider and many organizations use SAS. 2) Learning SAS programming skills is highly valuable as there is strong demand from companies and industries like healthcare, retail, and education. Monster.com listed over 2400 US jobs requiring SAS skills. 3) SAS certification validates skills and experience and increases career opportunities. SAS offers several certifications requiring exam completion in areas like associate programming.

1. Chapter 1 Overview of SAS

2. Section 1.1 Overview of SAS

3. Objectives Describe the difference between SAS the company and SAS the programming language. List the components of Base SAS. Describe the value that SAS programming skills have in the work world. List several companies, industries, and schools who use SAS software and what they use SAS for. Compare the demand for SAS programmers to that of other languages.

4. SAS: The Language SAS, the programming language, has the following characteristics: is a 4 th generation programming language is designed for data access, manipulation and transformation, and analysis runs on all major computing platforms has a library of prewritten, integrated procedures known as PROCs has easy-to-learn syntax

5. SAS: The Company SAS, the company, is known for the following: is the world's largest privately held software company was incorporated in 1976 by Dr. Jim Goodnight, a North Carolina State University statistics professor employs over 10,000 people in 113 countries is consistently listed as one of the top 100 places in the country to work can claim that 96 of the top 100 Fortune 500 companies use SAS provides free M&Ms to employees every day Dr. Jim Goodnight, CEO

6. Value of Learning SAS Programming Locally: 25JUN2008 Monster.com listed 61 jobs in the RTP area needing SAS skills. www.monster.com

7. Value of Learning SAS Programming Nationwide: 25JUN2008 Monster.com listed over 2400 jobs needing SAS skills. www.monster.com

8. Value of Learning SAS Programming Results: June 2008 The TIOBE Programming Community index gives an indication of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. Search engines calculate the ratings. http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm

9. Who Uses SAS? More than 43,000 business, government, and university sites in 108 countries rely on SAS. University of Copenhagen NC Museum of Art Diiachi 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Oklahoma State University MLB Advanced Media Eli Lily and Company Autozone ® University of Central Florida Expedia Monsato Brooks Brothers North Carolina State University Carnival Cruise Lines Alcon ® Eddie Bauer Colleges and Universities Entertainment Life Sciences Retail

10. Section 1.2 SAS Certification

11. Objectives Describe the benefits of the SAS certification process.

12. SAS Certification Why become certified? Becoming SAS-certified can do the following: increase your career opportunities and marketability enhance your credibility as a technical professional assess your knowledge of SAS software enable you to earn industry validation for your knowledge

13. SAS Certification SAS offers five professional certifications. Each certification requires the successful completion of one or more exams to earn a credential. This course teaches the content necessary for the SAS Certified Associate Programmer Credential for SAS ® 9. You can find out more about this exam and other SAS certification exams at www.support.sas.com .

14. SAS Certification Taking this class does not guarantee that you will pass the associate certification exam, but should increase your knowledge and skills. Required experience: Successful candidates should have at least one year of current SAS programming experience and should be able to perform the following tasks: import and export raw data files manipulate and transform data combine SAS data sets create basic detail and summary reports using SAS procedures identify and correct data, syntax, and programming logic errors

15. SAS Certification SAS created a new credential for high school students called the SAS Certified Associate Programmer. SAS Certified Associate Programmer Exam: available to high school students in November, 2008 50 multiple choice questions 32 questions answered correctly to pass (65%) two hours to complete the exam no access to SAS during the exam