The Little SAS Book : A Primer, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Useful -- for different people
Review: When used as a textbook to complement an instructor this book is useful - in two pages you can find a brief explanation and an example to illustrate the point. For a SAS user needing a quick reference - great as well. For someone just sitting down with SAS for the first time with no instruction or experience, this may leave a few holes and many questions, though stepping through the examples step by step (and not trying to get too far ahead of yourself) will tend to answer your own questions. A very useful resource.

Rating:
Summary: A friendly primer on SAS
Review: While my favorite SAS primer is DiIorio's "SAS Applications Programming," that book is a little outdated and a little heavy for people looking to get their feet wet quick. "The Little SAS Book", on the other hand, is quite friendly and easy to follow. It covers the basic aspects of SAS pretty well, things like the critical data step and how to read in various file formats. The curriculum flows well, although the "easy reading" feature does mean the reader might miss a critical thing or two easily.