Glossary: Glossary

Glossary

active window: a window that is open and displayed, and to which keyboard input is directed. Only one window can be active at a time.
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.
application workspace: a window that contains other windows or from which other windows can be invoked, but which is not contained within any window that is part of the same software application. The SAS application workspace (SAS AWS) is also referred to as the main SAS window. Short form: AWS.
ASCII: See American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASCII collating sequence: the rules that are used by a specific ASCII encoding for sorting textual data. Sort order is determined by the location of each code point in the code page of an ASCII encoding. In the Windows Latin1 code page, the sort order of precedence is punctuation characters, numbers, uppercase characters, and lowercase characters. Because the uppercase A (code point 41) precedes the lowercase g (code point 67), A is sorted before g. See also American Standard Code for Information Interchange and EBCDIC collating sequence.
autocall macro: a macro whose uncompiled source code and text are stored in an autocall macro library. Unlike a stored compiled macro, an autocall macro is compiled before execution the first time it is called.
AUTOEXEC.SAS: a file containing SAS statements that are executed automatically when SAS is invoked. The autoexec file can be used to specify some SAS system options, as well as to assign librefs and filerefs to folders or directories that are used frequently.
automatic macro variable: a macro variable that is defined by SAS rather than by the user and that supplies information about the SAS session. For example, the SYSPROCESSID automatic macro variable contains the process ID of the current SAS process.
AWS: See application workspace.
batch file: a file that contains operating-system commands, which are processed sequentially when the file is executed.
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 or workstation, 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. Under Windows, a Status window is associated with a SAS batch job. The Status window indicates which batch job is running and shows the pathnames and filenames of the log file and the procedure output file.
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 contains information that can be read by one or more software applications but not by humans. Some binary files are executable programs. Others store images, sounds, data, or a combination of printable and non-printable characters. Binary files cannot be edited with a text editor.
buffer: an area of computer memory that is reserved for use in performing input/output (I/O) operations.
cache: a small, fast memory area that holds recently accessed data. The cache is designed to speed up subsequent access to the same data.
catalog: See SAS catalog.
catalog entry: See SAS catalog entry.
central processing unit: the main hardware component of a computer. The CPU executes program instructions and controls the operation of other parts of the computer. Short form: CPU.
character constant: a character string that is enclosed in quotation marks in a SAS statement to indicate a fixed value rather than the name of a variable. The maximum number of characters that is allowed is 32,767. Character constants are sometimes referred to as character literals. See also character string.
character set: the set of characters that are used by a language or group of languages. A character set includes national characters, special characters (such as punctuation marks and mathematical symbols), the digits 0-9, and control characters that are needed by the computer. Most character sets also include the unaccented upper- and lowercase letters A-Z. See also national character.
character string: one or more alphanumeric characters or other keyboard characters or both. See also character constant.
character value: a value that can contain alphabetic characters, the numeric characters 0 through 9, and other special characters.
class: in object-oriented programming, a template for an object. A class includes data that describes the object's characteristics (such as attributes or instance variables), as well as the operations (methods) that the object can perform. See also subclassing and object.
client: (1) a computer or application that requests services, data, or other resources from a server. (2) in the context of named pipes and in DDE and OLE, an application that sends data to or receives data from an application that is acting as a server. See also server.
clipboard: a temporary storage place for data that is being passed from one application to another. For example, in Windows operating environments, you can use the clipboard to pass information between Excel and your SAS session.
COM: See Component Object Model.
COM/DCOM client: a program that uses the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) or Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) to make requests to a server. COM/DCOM clients can be written in Visual Basic, C++, Perl, or other programming languages in the Windows environment. See also Component Object Model and Distributed Component Object Model.
command prompt: the symbol after which you enter operating system commands.
component: a self-contained, reusable programming object that provides some type of service to other components in an object-oriented programming environment.
Component Object Model: an object-oriented programming model that defines how software components interact within a single process or between processes. For example, COM includes standard rules of communication that enable a user-interface object to be dragged and dropped from one application window to another. Short form: COM.
CONFIG.SYS: a system file that contains DOS configuration commands that specify the properties of the operating system, including device drivers, file-handling elements, and memory-management options.
configuration file: (1) in SAS software, an external file that contains SAS system options. These system options take effect each time you invoke SAS. (2) under DOS, the CONFIG.SYS file that specifies the properties of the operating system. See also CONFIG.SYS
Control Panel: under Windows, an application that enables you to specify characteristics of your Windows session, such as mouse tracking speed and the color of the title bar.
conventional memory: in servers that are running 32-bit operating systems, the first 4 gigabytes of main memory. In servers that are running 64-bit operating systems, all of the main memory is conventional memory.
CPU: See central processing unit.
CPU time: the amount of time it takes for the central processing unit of a computer system to perform the calculations or other operations that you request.
current folder: the folder to which commands and actions apply when you execute an application.
DCOM: See Distributed Component Object Model.
DDE: See Dynamic Data Exchange.
device driver: a program that controls the interaction between a computer and an external device such as a printer or a disk drive.
directory: another term for folder. See also folder.
Distributed Component Object Model: an extension to the Component Object Model (COM) that enables components to request services from components that are on other computers in a network. Short form: DCOM. See also component and Component Object Model.
DLL: See dynamic link library.
docking view: a view of the main SAS window in which one or more windows, such as the Explorer and Results windows, are integrated with the left side of the main SAS window.
DOS: a disk operating system for personal computers. In SAS documentation, the acronym DOS refers specifically to MS-DOS, the Microsoft disk operating system, which was developed by Microsoft for IBM.
drag: in a graphical user interface, to move an object such as an icon or a window around on a display screen. To drag the object, you usually use a mouse button to select the object, and move the mouse while keeping the mouse button pressed down.
Dynamic Data Exchange: a standard mechanism in the PC environment for sharing data among applications. Short form: DDE.
dynamic link library: a collection of executable program modules that are loaded at run time as needed. Short form: DLL.
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.
encoding method: a set of rules that are used to map characters (letters, logograms, digits, punctuation, symbols, control characters, and so on) to numeric values. Some examples of encoding methods are ASCII, EBCDIC, EUC, and PCMS.
Enhanced Editor: an ASCII text editor that provides features such as color coding and code sections to help SAS users write and debug SAS programs. The Enhanced Editor also provides familiar features of the SAS Program Editor.
environment variable: under Windows, a variable that equates one character string to another by using the SAS system option SET, the Windows SET command, or the Windows System Properties dialog box. SAS environment variables cannot be accessed by other Windows applications. By contrast, Windows environment variables can be accessed by all Windows applications.
error message: a message in the SAS log or Message window that indicates that SAS was not able to continue processing the program.
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.
extended memory: See extended server memory.
extended server memory: on a server that is running a 32-bit operating system, the part of main memory that exceeds the 4 gigabytes of conventional memory. See also conventional memory.
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.
fatal error: an error that causes a program to end abnormally or that prevents the program from starting.
field: a window area in which users can view, enter, or modify a value.
file extension: the classification of a file in a directory that identifies what type of information is stored in the file. For example, .sas7bcat is the file extension for UNIX, and .pdf is the file extension for Adobe Acrobat.
filename: the identifier that is used for a file. The filename includes the file extension, as in <charvar-value>PROFILE.SC2</charvar-value>. See also fully qualified filename and pathname.
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. Under Windows, you can assign a fileref with a FILENAME statement, the SAS system option SET, the Windows SET command, or from the SAS Explorer window.
folder: a named subdivision that is used for organizing files on a disk, diskette, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM. A folder also contains information about each file that it contains, such as size and date of last change.
font: a complete set of all the characters of the same design and style. The characters in a font can be figures or symbols as well as alphanumeric characters.
fully qualified filename: a file specification that includes both the pathname and the filename, as in <charvar-value>C:\SAS\SASUSER\PROFILE.SC2</charvar-value>. See also filename and pathname.
graphical user interface: any system that uses graphical objects such as windows, menus, icons, buttons, and check boxes to represent the functions of a software application and to enable the user to interact with the application. By contrast, a command-line interface requires users to interact with the software application by entering text. Many graphical user interfaces use visual metaphors for real-world objects such as file cabinets, folders, rulers, and scissors. Short form: GUI.
GUI: See graphical user interface.
host option: in a SAS statement, an option that is specific to a particular operating environment.
HTML: See HyperText Markup Language.
HyperText Markup Language: a coding system in which the codes indicate the layout and style of the text in a text file. Other HTML codes enable you to embed electronic objects such as images, sounds, video streams, and applets (small software applications) into HTML documents. All Web browsers can process HTML documents. Short form: HTML.
I/O time: an abbreviation for input/output time. I/O time is the time the computer spends on moving data from storage areas, such as disk or tape, into memory for work (input time) and moving the result out of memory to storage or to a display device, such as a terminal or a printer (output time).
icon: in a graphical user interface, a pictorial representation of a window, an action (such as sending e-mail or printing a document), or an option (such as double-spacing) that is available to the user. The user clicks on (or otherwise selects) the icon in order to expand the icon into a window, to perform the action, or to specify the option.
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.
maximize: in a graphical user interface, to cause a resizable window to instantly be displayed at its largest size, usually by clicking on (or otherwise selecting) an icon or on the maximize button of an active window.
member: a SAS file in a SAS library.
member name: a name that is assigned to a SAS file in a SAS library. Under Windows, the member name is the same as the filename for files that are stored in a SAS library.
memory: the size of the work area that the central processing unit (CPU) must devote to the operations in a program.
memory-based library: a SAS library that is stored either in conventional memory or in extended server memory (rather than on a data storage device) for the duration of a SAS session or job. See also conventional memory and extended server memory.
menu bar: the primary list of items at the top of a window, which represent the actions or classes of actions that can be executed. Selecting an item executes an action, opens a menu, or opens a dialog box that requests additional information. See also pop-up menu and menu.
message area: the area of the status bar (at the bottom of the main SAS window) that displays messages from SAS.
minimize: in a graphical user interface, to click on the minimize button of an active window, causing the window to be replaced by an icon elsewhere on the desktop. The window can be restored to its former size, location, and active status by clicking on (or otherwise selecting) the icon.
named pipe: a named object that provides client-to-server, server-to-client, or duplex communication between unrelated processes. You can use named pipes to establish communication between Windows applications, including multiple SAS sessions. See also pipe.
national character: any character that is specific to a language as it is written in a particular nation or group of nations.
network: an interconnected group of computers.
NT file system: an advanced system for organizing directories and files. NTFS supports long filenames, full security access control, file system recovery, and extremely large storage media. Short form: NTFS.
NTFS: See NT file system.
object: in object-oriented methodology, a specific representation of a class. An object inherits the characteristics (attributes or instance variables) of its class as well as the operations (methods) that class can execute. For example, a push button object is an instance of the Push Button class. The terms object and instance are often used interchangeably.
Object Linking and Embedding: a method of interprocess communication supported by Windows that involves a client/server architecture. OLE enables an object that was created by one application to be embedded in or linked to another application. Short form: OLE.
ODBC: See Open Database Connectivity.
ODBC driver: a loadable library module that provides a standardized interface for accessing, manipulating, and updating data that is created and maintained by a particular vendor's data management software. For example, the SAS ODBC driver enables you to access, manipulate, and update SAS data sources from any application that conforms to the ODBC standard. See also Open Database Connectivity.
ODS: See Output Delivery System.
OLE: See Object Linking and Embedding.
Open Database Connectivity: an interface standard that provides a common application programming interface (API) for accessing data. Many software products that run in the Windows operating environment conform to this standard so that you can access data that was created using other software products. Short form: ODBC.
Output Delivery System: a component of SAS software that can produce output in a variety of formats such as markup languages (HTML, XML), PDF, listing, RTF, Postscript, and SAS data sets. Short form: ODS.
pathname: in Windows operating environments, a specification of a drive, directories, and subdirectories, such as <charvar- value>C:\SAS\SASUSER</charvar-value>.
PCL: See Printer Command Language.
PID: See process ID.
pipe: an object that provides direct access to STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR between processes. Pipe is synonymous with unnamed pipe. See also named pipe.
pop-up menu: a menu that appears when it is requested. These menus are context-specific, depending on which window is active and on the cursor location. See also, menu.
portability: the ability of a program to execute in an operating environment other than the one for which it was written.
portable: See portability.
Printer Command Language: a command language that was developed by Hewlett-Packard for controlling Hewlett-Packard printers. Each PCL command consists of an escape key followed by a series of code numbers. Different versions of PCL have been developed for use with different models or types of Hewlett-Packard printers. Short form: PCL.
process: a functional unit of a program or task.
process ID: a unique number that is assigned to each process by the operating system. Short form: PID.
menu: the list of menu items or choices that appears when you choose an item from a menu bar or from another menu.
raw data: data that has not been read into a SAS data set.
record: a logical unit of information that consists of fields of related data. A collection of records are stored in a file. A record is analogous to a SAS observation.
SAS AWS: See application workspace.
SAS windowing environment: a graphical user interface for SAS software, through which you can perform many different tasks, including preparing and submitting programs, viewing and printing results, and debugging and resubmitting programs. See also graphical user interface.
sasroot: a term that represents the name of the directory or folder in which SAS is installed at your site or on your computer.
Sasuser.Profile catalog: a SAS catalog in which SAS stores information about attributes of your SAS windowing environment. For example, this catalog contains function-key definitions, fonts for graphics applications, window attributes, and other information that is used by interactive SAS procedures. See also SAS catalog.
Secure Socket Layer: a protocol that was developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents across the Internet. SSL uses a private key to encrypt data that is transmitted between a Web browser and a server.
sequential access: a method of file access in which the records are read or written one after the other from the beginning of the file to the end.
serial port: an I/O port (usually using an RS-232 interface) through which data are transmitted one bit at a time. Most plotters and some laser printers are connected to the host computer via a serial port.
server: a computer system that provides data or services to multiple users on a network. The term 'server' sometimes refers to the computer system's hardware and software, but it often refers only to the software that provides the data or services. In a network, users might log on to a file server (to store and retrieve data files), a print server (to use centrally located printers), or a database server (to query or update databases). In a client/server implementation, a server is a program that waits for and fulfills requests from client programs for data or services. The client programs might be running on the same computer or on other computers. See also client.
signature line: in the Enhanced Editor, a line of SAS code in which a step keyword (DATA, PROC, or MACRO) appears.
SMP: See symmetric multiprocessing.
standard input: the primary source of data going into a command. Standard input comes from the keyboard unless it is being redirected from a file or piped from another command.
standard output: the primary destination of data coming from a command. Standard output goes to the display unless it is being redirected to a file or piped to another command.
step boundary: a point in a SAS program when SAS recognizes that a DATA step or PROC step is complete.
subclassing: in object-oriented methodology, the process of deriving a new class from an existing class. A new class inherits the characteristics (attributes or instance variables) and operations (methods) of its parent. It can also contain custom attributes (or instance variables) and methods.
swap: to move data or program code from a computer system's main memory to a storage device such as a hard disk, or vice versa.
swapping: See swap.
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.
system menu: under Windows, a menu that is typically activated by clicking on (or otherwise selecting) an icon in the top left corner of an application window. You can use the system menu to move, resize, minimize, or maximize the window or to close the application. In SAS, you use the SAS system option AWSCONTROL to control whether this menu is available in the main SAS window or not.
system option: See SAS system option.
taskbar: the bar at the bottom of the Windows desktop that displays active applications. The taskbar enables you to easily switch between applications and to restore, move, size, minimize, maximize, and close applications.
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.
thread: a single path of execution of a process in a single CPU, or a basic unit of program execution in a thread-enabled operating system. In an SMP environment, which uses multiple CPUs, multiple threads can be spawned and processed simultaneously. Regardless of whether there is one CPU or many, each thread is an independent flow of control that is scheduled by the operating system. See also symmetric multiprocessing, thread-enabled operating system, and threading.
thread-enabled operating system: an operating system that can coordinate symmetric access by multiple CPUs to a shared main memory space. This coordinated access enables threads from the same process to share data very efficiently.
threading: a high-performance method of data I/O or data processing in which the I/O or processing is divided into multiple threads that are executed in parallel. In the boss-worker model of threading, the same code for the I/O or calculation process is executed simultaneously in separate threads on multiple CPUs. In the pipeline model, a process is divided into steps, which are then executed simultaneously in separate threads on multiple CPUs.
title bar: under Windows, an element of a window that displays the title of the window. The title bar is at the top of the window and is highlighted if the window is active.
toolbar: in Windows, a part of the SAS windowing environment that contains icons that you can associate with SAS commands or macros. Selecting an icon executes its associated command or string of commands. The toolbar is located in the menu bar area of the main SAS window. See also toolbox.
toolbox: a part of the SAS windowing environment in which you can place icons that you can associate with SAS commands or macros. Selecting an icon executes its associated command or string of commands. Unlike the toolbar, the toolbox is not attached to the main SAS window.
Universal Printing: a feature of SAS software that enables you to send SAS output to PDF, Postscript, GIF, PNG, SVG, and PCL files, as well as directly to printers. The Universal Printing system also provides many options that enable you to customize your output, and it is available in all of the operating environments that SAS supports.
unnamed pipe: See pipe.
window bar: the bar at the bottom of the SAS main window that includes a button for each SAS window that is open in your current SAS session. When you select one of the buttons, the window that is associated with that button becomes the active window and appears on top of the other windows. You can also right-click on a button to access a menu that enables you to move, size, minimize, maximize, or close the associated window, or to access a different menu that is specific to that window.
working directory: another term for current folder. See also current folder.

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