Efficiency: Improving the Performance of Your SAS Applications

Chapter 1: Introduction

• What Is Efficiency?
• Rating the Savings
• The Focus of This Book

Chapter 2: Reading Data

• Overview
• Section 1: Reading Raw Data
• Section 2: Reading from SAS Data Sets
• Section 3: General Techniques for Reading Data

Chapter 3: Reporting

• Specify Formats
• Use _NULL_ Data Sets
• Summarize Data Before Running PROC TABULATE

Chapter 4: File Handling

• Overview
• Section 1: Eliminate Poor Habits
• Section 2: Altering a Data Set without Reading All the Data Values
• Section 3: Miscellaneous File Handling Techniques

Chapter 5: Sorting Data

• Overview
• Section 1: Do You Need Sorted Data?
• Section 2: Alternatives to Sorting
• Section 3: Speeding Up PROC SORT
• Section 4: Trading Off Resources

Chapter 6: Summarizing Data

• Overview
• Section 1: Faster Summaries
• Section 2: Reusing Summary Data Sets

Chapter 7: Data Manipulation

• Overview
• Section 1: Functions, Good and Bad Use
• Section 2: Loops
• Section 3: Miscellaneous Data Manipulation Techniques

Chapter 8: Storage Space

• Overview
• Section 1: Shrinking an Individual SAS Data Set
• Section 2: Conserving Space within a SAS Data Library
• Section 3: Other Forms of Storage

Chapter 9: Bits and Pieces

• Overview
• Gain the Maximum Flexibility
• Compilation Issues
• I/O vs. CPU Time
• Low Maintenance Programming Techniques

Chapter 10: Test Programs

• Designing Test Programs
• Results for Chapter 2: Reading Data
• Test Results for Chapter 3: Reporting
• Test Results for Chapter 4: File Handling
• Tests Results for Chapter 5: Sorting Data
• Tests Results for Chapter 6: Summarizing Data
• Tests Results for Chapter 7: Data Manipulation
• Efficiency in the Future