In previous years, SAS/IML software was updated only with new releases of Base SAS® software, but this is no longer the case. This means that SAS/IML software can be released to customers when enhancements are ready, and the goal is to update SAS/IML every 12 to 18 months. To mark this newfound independence, the release numbering scheme for SAS/IML changed starting with SAS/IML 12.1. This new numbering scheme will be maintained when new versions of Base SAS and SAS/IML are shipped at the same time.
SAS/IML 12.1 includes the following changes and enhancements:
a new syntax for defining default parameter values in user-defined modules
a new syntax for reading and writing SAS data sets whose names are not known until run time
new statistical functions, subroutines, and modules
support for additional distributions and parameters for generating random samples by using the RANDGEN subroutine
SAS/IML 12.3 is a maintenance release. No new features have been added. The information in this book applies to SAS/IML 12.1 and SAS/IML 12.3.