Glossary: Glossary

Glossary

access method: See communications access method.
aggregate storage location: a location on an operating system that can contain a group of distinct files. On different operating systems, different terms (such as directory, folder, or partitioned data set) are used to refer to an aggregate storage location.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange: a 7-bit character encoding that is the U.S. national variant of the ISO 646 standard. The ASCII encoding includes the upper- and lowercase letters A-Z, digits, symbols (such as &, #, and mathematical symbols), punctuation marks, and control characters. This set of 128 characters is also included in most other encodings. Short form: ASCII. See also Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code and encoding.
architecture: the manner in which numeric data and character data are represented internally in a particular operating environment. Architecture encompasses standards or conventions for storing floating-point numbers (IEEE or IBM 390); for character encoding (ASCII or EBCDIC); for the ordering of bytes in memory (big Endian or little Endian); for word alignment (4-byte boundaries or 8-byte boundaries); and for data-type length (16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit).
ASCII: See American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASCII mnemonic: the name of an ASCII control character that you can specify in a program in order to invoke the associated function. For example, NUL represents the null character, CR represents carriage return, and so on.
asynchronous processing: a type of server processing that enables you to submit multiple tasks to one or more server sessions that execute in parallel, thus making efficient use of time and resources. Client processing resumes immediately. That is, you do not wait for the server processing to complete before control is returned to the client session. See also synchronous processing.
authentication: the process of verifying the identity of a person or process within the guidelines of a specific security policy.
autoexec file: a file that contains SAS statements that are executed automatically when SAS is invoked. The autoexec file can be used to specify some of the SAS system options, as well as to assign librefs and filerefs to data sources that are used frequently. See also fileref and libref.
backing store: a SAS utility file that is written to the client SASWORK directory.
batch mode: a method of executing SAS programs in which a file that contains SAS statements plus any necessary operating environment commands is submitted to the computer's batch queue. After you submit the program, control returns to your computer, and you can perform other tasks. Batch mode is sometimes referred to as running in the background. The program output can be written to files or printed on an output device.
binary: the name of the base 2 number system. A binary digit can have one of two values: 0 or 1. A binary digit is called a bit and is considered to be off when its value is 0 and on when its value is 1. See also binary file.
binary file: a file that is stored in binary format, which cannot be edited with a text editor. Binary files are usually executable, but they can contain only data. In SAS/CONNECT software, a binary file is in the format used to move SAS files in transport format.
block: a group of statements between a logical beginning and ending statement. For example, the statements between an RSUBMIT statement and an ENDRSUBMIT statement are a block. See also remotely submit.
break signal: an asynchronous protocol signal indicating that the normal flow of data should be interrupted.
Break window: a special class of windows for SAS/CONNECT software. Break windows enable you to handle error conditions and interruptions that are caused by break signals that you issue. See also break signal.
buffer: See transfer buffer.
carriage-control character: a symbol that tells a printer how many lines to advance the paper, when to begin a new page, when to skip a line, and when to hold the current line for overprinting.
catalog: See SAS catalog.
catalog entry: See SAS catalog entry, entry type.
character set: the set of characters and symbols that are used by a language or group of languages. A character set includes national-language characters (characters that are specific to a language as it is written in a particular nation or group of nations), special characters (such as punctuation marks), the unaccented Latin characters A-Z, the digits 0- 9, and control characters that are needed by the computer.
checksum: one or more characters appended to the end of a data block for error-checking purposes.
client: a SAS session that receives services, data, or other resources from a specified server. The server can run on the same computer as the client or on a different computer (across a network). See also server, SAS/CONNECT server, SAS/CONNECT client, SAS/SHARE client, and SAS/SHARE server.
command file: a file that contains operating system commands to be executed in sequence.
communications access method: an interface between SAS and the network protocol or interface that is used to connect two operating environments. Depending on the operating environments, SAS/SHARE and SAS/CONNECT use either the TCP/IP or XMS communications access method. See also TCP/IP and Cross-Memory Services.
Compute Services: a feature of SAS/CONNECT that enables a SAS/CONNECT client to distribute SAS processing to one or more SAS/CONNECT server sessions and to maintain control of these server sessions and their results from the single client session. Compute Services are implemented via the RSUBMIT and ENDRSUBMIT statements. Short form: CS.
configuration file: an external file that contains SAS system options. These system options take effect each time you invoke SAS. See also external file.
control character: a character that is used for control purposes rather than for information exchange. Control characters are usually nonprintable. See also carriage-control character.
Cross-Memory Services: a cross-task communication interface that is part of z/OS. XMS is used by programs that run within a single z/OS operating environment. XMS is also the name of the SAS communications access method that uses XMS for client/server communication. Short form: XMS.
CS: See Compute Services.
data translation: the automatic conversion of the internal representation of character and numeric data that occurs when the data is transferred between SAS/CONNECT client and server computers that run under different operating environments. For example, data that was created under UNIX is automatically converted to the Windows data representation when it is transferred to a Windows operating environment. See also upload, download, and Data Transfer Services (DTS).
descriptor information: information about the contents and attributes of a SAS data set. For example, the descriptor information includes the data types and lengths of the variables, as well as which engine was used to create the data. SAS creates and maintains descriptor information within every SAS data set.
download: to copy a file from a server to a client. See also Data Transfer Services.
Data Transfer Services: a feature of SAS/CONNECT software that enables data to be transferred between a SAS/CONNECT client and a SAS/CONNECT server, regardless of the operating environment, the computer architectures, and the SAS release that is being used. Short form: DTS. See also upload, download, and data translation.
EBCDIC: See Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code.
encoding: a set of characters (letters, logograms, digits, punctuation, symbols, control characters, and so on) that have been mapped to numeric values (called code points) that can be used by computers. The code points are assigned to the characters in the character set by applying an encoding method. Some examples of encodings are wlatin1, wcyrillic, and shift-jis.
encryption: the act of transforming intelligible data (plaintext) into an unintelligible form (ciphertext) by means of a mathematical process.
engine: a component of SAS software that reads from or writes to a file. Each engine enables SAS to access files that are in a particular file format. There are several types of engines. See also REMOTE engine and SASESOCK engine.
entry: See SAS catalog entry.
entry type: a characteristic of a SAS catalog entry that identifies the catalog entry's structure and attributes to SAS. When you create a SAS catalog entry, SAS automatically assigns the entry type as part of the name. See also SAS catalog entry.
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code: a group of 8-bit character encodings that each include up to 256 characters. EBCDIC is used on IBM mainframes and on most IBM mid-range computers, and it includes both graphic (printable) codes and control (nonprintable) codes. Short form: EBCDIC. See also American Standard Code for Information Interchange and encoding.
external database: a database that stores data that is not part of the SAS System. For example, DB2, Oracle, and Sybase are types of external databases.
external file: a file that is created and maintained by a host operating system or by another vendor's software application. SAS can read data from and route output to external files. External files can contain raw data, SAS programming statements, procedure output, or output that was created by the PUT statement. A SAS data set is not an external file. See also fileref.
file specification: the name of an external file. This name is the name by which the host operating environment recognizes the file. On directory-based systems, the file specification can be either the complete pathname or the relative pathname from the current working directory.
fileref: a name that is temporarily assigned to an external file or to an aggregate storage location such as a directory or a folder. The fileref identifies the file or the storage location to SAS. See also libref.
GRLINK: a device driver that enables you to execute graphics statements on a server but to display the resulting graphs on a client. In order to provide this functionality, the GRLINK driver must be installed on the server.
interactive line mode: a method of running SAS programs in which you enter one line of a SAS program at a time at the SAS session prompt. SAS processes each line immediately after you press the ENTER or RETURN key. Procedure output and informative messages are returned directly to your display device.
Internet Protocol Version 4: a protocol that specifies the format for network addresses for all computers that are connected to the Internet. This protocol, which is the predecessor of Internet Protocol Version 6, uses dot-decimal notation to represent 32-bit address spaces. An example of an Internet Protocol Version 4 address is 10.23.2.3. Short form: IPv4. See also IP address and Internet Protocol Version 6.
Internet Protocol Version 6: a protocol that specifies the format for network addresses for all computers that are connected to the Internet. This protocol, which is the successor of Internet Protocol Version 4, uses hexadecimal notation to represent 128-bit address spaces. The format can consist of up to eight groups of four hexadecimal characters, delimited by colons, as in FE80:0000:0000:0000:0202:B3FF:FE1E:8329. As an alternative, a group of consecutive zeros could be replaced with two colons, as in FE80::0202:B3FF:FE1E:8329. Short form: IPv6. See also IP address and Internet Protocol Version 4.
IPv4: See Internet Protocol Version 4.
IPv6: See Internet Protocol Version 6.
libref: a name that is temporarily associated with a SAS library. The complete name of a SAS file consists of two words, separated by a period. The libref, which is the first word, indicates the library. The second word is the name of the specific SAS file. For example, in VLIB.NEWBDAY, the libref VLIB tells SAS which library contains the file NEWBDAY. You assign a libref with a LIBNAME statement or with an operating system command.
libref inheritance: a feature that enables libraries that are defined in a client session to be inherited by a server session for read and write access. Libref inheritance occurs during sign-on and during remotely submitted executions. See also libref.
line mode: See interactive line mode.
local data: data that is accessed through a SAS server on your computer. The data can be stored either on your hard drive or on a network file system, such as a Novell file server, that makes the physical location of the data transparent to applications.
local session: a SAS session running on the local host. The local session accepts SAS statements and passes those that are remote-submitted to the remote host for processing. The local session manages the output and messages from both the local session and the remote session.
macro facility: a component of Base SAS software that you can use for extending and customizing SAS programs and for reducing the amount of text that must be entered in order to perform common tasks. The macro facility consists of the macro processor and the macro programming language.
macro variable: a variable that is part of the SAS macro programming language. The value of a macro variable is a string that remains constant until you change it. Macro variables are sometimes referred to as symbolic variables.
member: a SAS file in a SAS library.
member name: a name that is assigned to a SAS file in a SAS library. See also member type.
member type: a SAS name that identifies the type of information that is stored in a SAS file. Member types include ACCESS, AUDIT, DMBD, DATA, CATALOG, FDB, INDEX, ITEMSTOR, MDDB, PROGRAM, UTILITY, and VIEW.
MP CONNECT: See Multi-Processing CONNECT.
Multi-Processing CONNECT: a feature of SAS/CONNECT software that uses multiple CPUs to process tasks in parallel. Multiprocessing can be used within an operating environment that has SMP hardware, across operating environments, or both. Short form: MP CONNECT. See also asynchronous processing and symmetric multiprocessing.
non-U.S. keyboard: a keyboard that is not a standard U.S. keyboard. Non-English language keyboards often have characters that are not found on U.S. keyboards and might not have some characters that are found on U.S. keyboards.
observation: a row in a SAS data set. All of the data values in an observation are associated with a single entity such as a customer or a state. Each observation contains either one data value or a missing-value indicator for each variable.
operating environment: a computer, or a logical partition of a computer, and the resources (such as an operating system and other software and hardware) that are available to the computer or partition.
packet: a grouping of printable characters, a sequence number, and a checksum, which are transmitted over the link as a unit. SAS/CONNECT clients and servers use these specially formatted packets to communicate with each other.
permanent SAS library: a SAS library that is not deleted when a SAS session ends, and which is therefore available to subsequent SAS sessions. Unless the USER libref is defined, you use a two-level name to access a file in a permanent library. The first-level name is the libref, and the second-level name is the member name. See also SAS library, libref (library reference), and member name.
pipeline parallelism: a SAS/CONNECT feature that accelerates throughput by enabling data to be piped from one process to another in an SMP environment. Pipeline parallelism enables the execution of SAS DATA steps and SAS procedures to overlap, with only a single pass through the data. Rather than waiting for one process to completely finish writing output, piping starts to execute the waiting process as soon as the first process starts to generate data. In addition, piping the data saves both time and disk space because it eliminates the intermediate step of writing data to disk. See also asynchronous processing, Multi-Processing CONNECT, symmetric multiprocessing, and SASESOCK engine.
piping: an extension to MP CONNECT functionality that enables you to run multiple dependent processes asynchronously. Piping improves performance for some tasks by writing output to TCP/IP ports instead of to disk. See also Multi-Processing CONNECT and asynchronous processing.
port: in a network, a communications endpoint that is specified by a unique number and a service name. The port number and the associated service name are configured in a services file (/etc/services on UNIX). A port enables a SAS client to access a SAS/CONNECT spawner, an MP CONNECT pipe, a SAS/SHARE server, or a firewall server. See also SASESOCK engine, pipeline parallelism, firewall, SAS/SHARE server, and services file.
REMOTE engine: a SAS library engine that enables a client to access data on a server. See also engine.
remote host: in SAS/CONNECT software, the computer on which processing occurs when you execute a PROC DOWNLOAD, PROC UPLOAD, or other SAS statement that is executed with the RSUBMIT command or statement. The term remote describes how you interact with the SAS session running on the computer; it is not related to the physical location of the computer. See also remote session.
Remote Library Services: a feature of SAS/SHARE and SAS/CONNECT software that enables you to read, write, and update remote data as if it were stored on the client. RLS can be used to access SAS data sets on computers that have different architectures. RLS also provides read-only access to some types of SAS catalog entries on computers that have different architectures. Short form: RLS. See also architecture.
remote processing: the use of communications software to process local programs with a server's CPU resources. In SAS/CONNECT software, the output and messages from a program that runs on the server are displayed on the client.
remote session: a SAS session that is running in a special mode on the remote host. No output or log messages are displayed on the remote host. Instead, the results of a remote SAS session are transmitted back to the log file and output files on the local host.
remotely submit: to use the RSUBMIT command or statement to submit statements from a SAS/CONNECT client session to be executed in a SAS/CONNECT server session.
return code: a code that is passed to the operating system and that indicates whether a command or a job step has executed successfully.
RLS: See Remote Library Services.
SAS catalog: a SAS file that stores many different kinds of information in smaller units called catalog entries. A single SAS catalog can contain different types of catalog entries. See also SAS catalog entry.
SAS catalog entry: a separate storage unit within a SAS catalog. Each entry has an entry type that identifies its purpose to SAS. Some catalog entries contain system information such as key definitions. Other catalog entries contain application information such as window definitions, Help windows, SAS formats and informats, macros, or graphics output. See also entry type.
SAS command: a command that invokes SAS. This command can vary depending on the operating environment and site. See also SAS invocation.
SAS Component Language: a programming language that is provided with SAS/AF and SAS/FSP software. You can use SCL for developing interactive applications that manipulate SAS data sets and external files; for displaying tables, menus, and selection lists; for generating SAS source code and submitting it to SAS for execution; and for generating code for execution by the host command processor. Short form: SCL.
SAS console log: a file that contains information, warning, and error messages if the SAS log is not active. The SAS console log is normally used only for fatal system initialization errors or for late-termination messages. See also SAS log.
SAS data file: a type of SAS data set that contains data values as well as descriptor information that is associated with the data. The descriptor information includes information such as the data types and lengths of the variables, as well as the name of the engine that was used to create the data. See also SAS data set and SAS view.
SAS data set: a file whose contents are in one of the native SAS file formats. There are two types of SAS data sets: SAS data files and SAS views. SAS data files contain data values in addition to descriptor information that is associated with the data. SAS views contain only the descriptor information plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files whose contents are in other software vendors' file formats. See also descriptor information.
SAS file: a specially structured file that is created, organized, and, optionally, maintained by SAS. A SAS file can be a SAS data set, a catalog, a stored program, an access descriptor, a utility file, a multidimensional database file, a financial database file, a data mining database file, or an item store file.
SAS invocation: the process of starting SAS software by executing the SAS command.
SAS library: a collection of one or more files that are recognized by SAS and that are referenced and stored as a unit. Each file is a member of the library.
SAS log: a file that contains a record of the SAS statements that you enter, as well as messages about the execution of your program. See also SAS console log.
SAS Management Console: a Java application that provides a single user interface for performing SAS administrative tasks.
SAS Metadata Repository: a repository that is used by the SAS Metadata Server to store and retrieve metadata. See also SAS Metadata Server.
SAS Metadata Server: a multi-user server that enables users to read metadata from or write metadata to one or more SAS Metadata Repositories.
SAS system option: an option that affects the processing of an entire SAS program or interactive SAS session from the time the option is specified until it is changed. Examples of items that are controlled by SAS system options include the appearance of SAS output, the handling of some files that are used by SAS, the use of system variables, the processing of observations in SAS data sets, features of SAS initialization, and the way SAS interacts with your host operating environment.
SAS view: a type of SAS data set that retrieves data values from other files. A SAS view contains only descriptor information such as the data types and lengths of the variables (columns), plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files that are stored in other software vendors' file formats. SAS views can be created by the SAS DATA step, as well as by the SAS SQL procedure.
SAS/CONNECT attention handler window: one of two possible windows that are displayed when a server session is interrupted by a break signal. This window offers the following selections: abort current remote processing or continue processing the current remote submit. See also Communication Services Break Handler window.
SAS/CONNECT client: a SAS/CONNECT session that acts as a client. The user that runs a SAS/CONNECT client requests services from a SAS/CONNECT server that can run on a remote single-processor machine or on a local or remote multi-processor machine. The following services are supported: Remote Library Services, which enables access to SAS files; Compute Services, which uses fast processing resources; and Data Transfer Services, which enables the upload or download of selected data for processing. See also client, server, and SAS/CONNECT server.
SAS/CONNECT server: a SAS/CONNECT session that acts as a server. The SAS/CONNECT server runs a SAS session on a computer that receives requests for services from a SAS/CONNECT client. The server can run on a remote, single-processor computer or on a local or remote SMP computer. SAS/CONNECT servers provide Remote Library Services (for accessing SAS files), Compute Services (for rapid computational processing), and Data Transfer Services (for uploading and downloading selected data). See also client, server, SAS/CONNECT client, and symmetric multiprocessing.
SAS/CONNECT spawner: a program that runs on a remote computer and that listens for SAS/CONNECT client requests for connection to the remote computer. When the spawner program receives a request, it invokes a SAS session on the remote computer.
SAS/SECURE: an add-on product that uses the RC2, RC4, DES, and TripleDES encryption algorithms. SAS/SECURE requires a license, and it must be installed on each computer that runs a client and a server that will use the encryption algorithms. SAS/SECURE provides a high level of security.
SAS/SHARE client: a SAS/SHARE session that acts as a client. The user who runs a SAS/SHARE client accesses data on a SAS/SHARE server through Remote Library Services (RLS). See also client, server, SAS/SHARE server, and Remote Library Services.
SAS/SHARE server: the result of an execution of the SERVER procedure. The SERVER procedure is part of SAS/SHARE software. A server runs in a separate SAS session that services users' SAS sessions by controlling and executing input and output requests to one or more SAS libraries. See also client, server, and SAS/SHARE client.
SASESOCK engine: a socket engine for SAS/CONNECT software. Using the SASESOCK engine enables a SAS/CONNECT client or a SAS/CONNECT server to associate a libref with a TCP/IP pipe (instead of with a physical disk device) for I/O processing. The SASESOCK engine is required for SAS/CONNECT applications that implement MP CONNECT with piping. See also symmetric multiprocessing, pipeline parallelism, asynchronous processing, Multi-Processing CONNECT, and engine.
SASProprietary algorithm: a fixed encoding algorithm that is included with Base SAS software. The SASProprietary algorithm requires no additional SAS product licenses. It provides a medium level of security.
sasroot: a term that represents the name of the directory or folder in which SAS is installed at your site or on your computer.
SCL: See SAS Component Language.
script: an external file that contains SAS script statements. The script file is stored on a client and provides instructions for establishing and terminating a SAS/CONNECT session. Script files are executed by the SIGNON and SIGNOFF commands. See also external file.
script statement: a special kind of SAS statement that was developed for use in scripts for SAS/CONNECT software. Script statements are used only in scripts.
server: a SAS session that delivers services, data, or other resources to a requesting client. The server can run on the same computer as the client or on a different computer (across a network). See also SAS/CONNECT server, SAS/SHARE server, SAS/CONNECT client, SAS/SHARE client, and server.
server session: See server, SAS/CONNECT server, SAS/SHARE server.
services file: a file that contains a list of service names and the TCP/IP ports that are mapped to those services. The services file is stored on both the SAS client and the SAS server. The UNIX services file is located in /etc/services. A service can be specified for any of the following: a SAS/CONNECT spawner, a SAS/SHARE server, an MP CONNECT pipe, and a firewall server. See also port, SASESOCK engine, pipeline parallelism, firewall, and SAS/SHARE server.
SMP: See symmetric multiprocessing.
socket: the endpoint of a connection in a TCP/IP network. A socket is the combination of a TCP port and an IP address. By analogy, a socket is like a telephone to which a telephone number has been assigned. The TCP port is like a telephone number, and the IP address is like the location of the telephone. See also port, services file, socket inheritance, and IP address.
spawner: See SAS/CONNECT spawner.
SQL: See Structured Query Language.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): a protocol that provides network security and privacy. SSL uses encryption algorithms RC2, RC4, DES, TripleDES, and AES. SSL provides a high level of security. It was developed by Netscape Communications.
statement label: a SAS name followed by a colon that prefixes a statement in a DATA step so that other statements can direct execution to that statement as necessary, bypassing other statements in the step.
Structured Query Language: a standardized, high-level query language that is used in relational database management systems to create and manipulate objects in a database management system. SAS implements SQL through the SQL procedure. Short form: SQL.
symmetric multiprocessing: a hardware and software architecture that can improve the speed of I/O and processing. An SMP machine has multiple CPUs and a thread-enabled operating system. An SMP machine is usually configured with multiple controllers and with multiple disk drives per controller. Short form: SMP.
synchronous processing: a type of processing in which a SAS/CONNECT server session must finish executing a process before control is returned to a SAS/CONNECT client session. See also asynchronous processing.
system option: See SAS system option.
TCP/IP: an abbreviation for a pair of networking protocols. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a standard protocol for transferring information on local area networks such as Ethernets. TCP ensures that process-to-process information is delivered in the appropriate order. Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol for managing connections between operating environments. IP routes information through the network to a particular operating environment and fragments and reassembles information in transfers.
Teletypewriter Network Protocol: a program that provides virtual terminal services that enable you to log on to a server from a terminal that is connected to a client. The client performs as if it were physically connected to the server. In SAS/CONNECT software, Telnet is always executed via an automatic log-on script, not directly by a user. Short form: Telnet.
Telnet: See Teletypewriter Network Protocol.
timeout: an error condition that is produced when a required response from a device is not received. Some SAS script statements control what happens when a timeout occurs.
TLS: See Transport Layer Security.
transfer buffer: a temporary holding area in computer memory that is used when data is transferred between clients and servers across a network.
translation table: an operating environment-specific SAS catalog entry that is used to translate the value of one character to another. Translation tables often are needed to support the use of multiple national languages in an application. An example of a translation table is one that converts characters from EBCDIC to ASCII-ISO.
Transport Layer Security: the successor to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) V3.0. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) adopted SSL V3.0 as the de facto standard, made some modifications, and renamed it TLS. TLS is virtually SSLV3.1. Short form: TLS. See also Secure Sockets Layer.
upload: to copy a file from a client to a server. See also Data Transfer Services.
XMS: See Cross-Memory Services.

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