Book Reviews

The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2

978-1-59994-726-6

"If you are an Enterprise Guide user at any level, this book is essential. It is written in plain English, easy-to-follow, and well illustrated. The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 is thorough, with well-explained examples that give the user the ability to utilize the software efficiently. As with all of the "Little SAS Books" authored by Susan Slaughter and Lora Delwiche, the care and attention given to the creation of the indexes stands above other technical books, making its effectiveness quite appreciated by the reader. If someone asks me an Enterprise Guide question, this is the resource I will point them to!"

Jenine Milum
President of the Charlotte (NC) SAS Users Group


"Overall, the book is a very detailed and comprehensive resource to help anyone who wants to use SAS Enterprise Guide."

Robert Richard Springborn, PhD
Research Scientist II
Healthcare Outcomes Center
California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development


"The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 is an effective resource for learning and using this powerful and productive SAS product. Susan and Lora divide their book in tutorial and reference sections. The tutorials have good screenshots and clearly walk you through four projects. This makes getting started with Enterprise Guide easy and fast. The reference section takes you beyond 'getting started' and gives you a deeper understanding of Enterprise Guide. It includes new features, such as task templates. This is a book that we will recommend to our students and clients."

Ginger Carey and Helen Carey
SAS Enterprise Guide Instructors


"As a longtime SAS consultant, one of the books in my traveling library that I took to client sites whenever I was starting a new assignment was The Little SAS Book. To be honest, the book was not for my use-it was the book that was borrowed most by clients; obviously its reputation and value were well known. A few years ago I had been using SAS Enterprise Guide 3.0 for a while when I came across a copy of The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 3.0; my conversion to SAS Enterprise Guide would have been less painful had I started from the book.

The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 continues the value of the Little SAS Book family. For a new user, the four tutorials will get you started not only with most of the main tasks you will use on a regular basis, but also gives a good grounding on general SAS Enterprise Guide usage. I particularly liked the use of the explanation boxes, many of which presented information in a question-and-answer format; for example, when describing how to combine filters there was a box labeled "AND or OR?" which gave a nice concise answer on the difference in using AND and OR when combining filters. In addition to describing how tasks work, Susan and Lora slip in some common-sense usage as well. The main example that stood out to me was how they promoted project documentation. At the end of each tutorial they always show adding a Note to the project in order to document the project.

For users with more experience in SAS Enterprise Guide 4.2, the reference section is full of good material. There are numerous examples on how to get things done in the Query Builder, including two great examples of adding summary data back into a data table in order to calculate percent of totals. The chapter on combining tables has a very good explanation of the different methods of combining data tables followed by simple but effective examples. The final chapter, on using prompts and conditions, is invaluable for people who need to create flexible and easy-to-use applications.

Once again Susan and Lora have produced a book that will be a 'must-have' for new users to SAS Enterprise Guide 4.2, whether they are new to the SAS Enterprise Guide family or, like me, making the move from earlier versions of SAS Enterprise Guide."

Peter Eberhardt
Fernwood Consulting Group Inc.


"It may be a 'Little Book,' but I was amazed at how much information about Enterprise Guide 4.2 is included. The tutorials successfully take the reader on a journey covering all the main topics; then the reference section expands on these topics. I've been using Enterprise Guide since version 1.1, but while reading this book I was reminded frequently of features that I ought to use more. It has something for everyone!"

Philip R. Holland
Consultant and Author
Holland Numerics Ltd.


"Lora and Susan's latest addition to their popular 'Little SAS Book' series brings the power and flexibility of Enterprise Guide 4.2 capabilities to the desktops of both new and experienced users of this latest update to menu-driven 'business intelligence' tool from SAS. Their 'real-world' experience as SAS programmers and trainers is reflected on every page of their book. Intuitive step-by-step tutorials and easy-to-understand explanations enable novice EG 4.2 users to apply powerful data management, reporting, analysis, and graphing features within minutes of starting their first session with the product. And experienced EG users and SAS programmers will appreciate how well the book enables them to apply their existing skill via this new graphical interface to longstanding SAS tools. You'll want to keep this text within easy reach as you apply EG 4.2 capabilities to your projects and programs."

Andrew H. Karp
Principal Consultant, Sierra Information Services
www.SierraInformation.com


"The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 guides you through the multiple functionalities of Enterprise Guide in a logical, stepwise manner. First, you complete a specific job via tutorials. Then you extend your scope and gain flexibility by being introduced to more advanced methods. Learning by doing is an invaluable benefit of the book tutorials. The many screen captures provided allow you to learn away from your computer. The side-by-side page formatting provides short-term goals to optimize your time. The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 is the reference for learning about Enterprise Guide on your own."

Véronique Bourcier
www.sasreference.com