Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Introduction
Review: I just completed a SAS course that used this book. I never used SAS before and found the book to be very useful and informative. The authors show you how to use the built in SAS procedures and provide basic guidance on how to interpret the results. It has a numerous examples which really helped me learn the basics about running t-tests, ANOVA, and regression. Notes: (a) The book does not cover every option available with the SAS procedures - this is actually good in an introductory book because it keeps the reader from getting confused. Don't buy the book expecting a technical programming manual. (b) The book does not cover macro programming (c) the book does not cover the more professional looking graphics procedures e.g. gplot
Rating:
Summary: An excellent starter, limited use for professionals
Review: A very good intro-level SAS book for SAS freshmen. It helps you to do SAS quickies without learning the language in detail. But wherever it touches the language itself, it provides excellent teaching in easy-to-understand English. It's the best book for non-programmers to start using SAS for their everyday statistic and database tasks. The final part of the book contains some (but very limited) tricks for professional SAS programmers. More advanced contents will earn one more star - wait for the next version.
Rating:
Summary: A good comprehensive intro to stats using SAS.
Review: Applied Statistics and the SAS Programming Language by Cody and Smith is a good introduction to the SAS language. This book, while giving a good intro to stats with SAS, is not for everyone. Those with no prior programming experience, particularly with SAS would be better off trying Hatcher and Stepanski's book first (isbn 1-55544-634-5). For those with some SAS knowledge already, this is a great book. It is limited in that some of the finer details of the functioning of the program examples are not explained in full detail. Usually only a brief description of what part of a program example does is given, rather than an explanation of the logic and sequence of how it works and how to generalize it to other examples. The book is also written in a roundabout fashion, with the examples and descriptions of the stats procedures given first, and the explanation of the data step programming techniques given in the second part of the book. This is why this book is fine for those with some knowledge of SAS already, for the second section while clear and to the point is essentially a collection of reference examples, rather than an intro to the logic of SAS programming. For a more complete treatment of the finer workings of SAS programming logic, DiIorio and Hardy's book (isbn 0-534-23760-6) is a better text, and an excellenct compliment to this book.This book does do an excellent job of introducing the basic stats procedures that SAS/STAT has available, and how to apply them to different data analysis situations. Also, this text has the best introduction to repeated measures designs in SAS that I have read yet. Of particular use is the chapter on using arrays to restructure data sets for use in multivariate analyses. However, this book does not specifically treat multivariate procedures in any depth. In sum, an overall well done book, but not for the first time SAS novice. Hatcher and Stepanski is a better book for the novice just learning SAS for the first time. Cody and Smith is a book that is perfect for people who already have some knowledge of the basics of SAS, like how to write basic data and procedure statements, and want to get a deeper knowledge of SAS by example. For those who wish to get a better understanding of the logic of how SAS works, particularly for treatments of DO statement recursive loops and of IF-THEN-ELSE conditional statements, DiIorio and Hardy's book is the best compliment for this text.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful and entertaining too (really!)
Review: Cody and Smith do an effective job of communicating the intricacies and features of this helpful but sometimes dense software. A step-by-step, well organized and at times amusing approach to programming in SAS, this book is similar to the "..for dummies" collection - user-friendly with plenty of visuals and examples. I'd definitely recommend it to any student or professional.
Rating: 
Summary: too wordy and extremely basic
Review: I am at a loss to see what people like about this book. The authors were extremely wordy in my opinion and took much too long to make a point. This book is extremely basic, so if you know anything about statistics, I feel you may be happier with something more advanced.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have for beginners
Review: I have a PhD in Marketing and MSEE, and because of this, a good, basic knowledge of statistics. Nevertheless, when i started working in quantitative marketing research, i was often posed with practical problems where i didn't have an immediate answer. THis book was often a lifesaver for me. When i ran into a practical problem analyzing data, i could look something up at the right page, and it would give me the basic intuition and workable prescriptions for a wide range of non-trivial, intermediate problems. My impression is that the people giving this book low ratings are looking for statistical theory, which of course this book isn't about. That's like blaming a pick-up truck for not being as sexy as a roadster. If you live in the real world however and don't have days to figure out the theoretical fine points and accompanying SAS codes, but still want to do solid work and get the basic intuition of what you're doing, this book is worth its weight in gold. I used this in market research, but I'm sure this would be valuable in all social sciences, and probably also in other applied fields such as medical statistics, biology, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for practitioners
Review: I have a PhD in Marketing and MSEE, and because of this, a good, basic knowledge of statistics. Nevertheless, when i started working in quantitative marketing research, i was often posed with practical problems where i didn't have an immediate answer. THis book was often a lifesaver for me. When i ran into a practical problem analyzing data, i could look something up at the right page, and it would give me the basic intuition and workable prescriptions for a wide range of non-trivial, intermediate problems. My impression is that the people giving this book low ratings are looking for statistical theory, which of course this book isn't about. That's like blaming a pick-up truck for not being as sexy as a roadster. If you live in the real world however and don't have days to figure out the theoretical fine points and accompanying SAS codes, but still want to do solid work and get the basic intuition of what you're doing, this book is worth its weight in gold. I used this in market research, but I'm sure this would be valuable in all social sciences, and probably also in other applied fields such as medical statistics, biology, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: A book for beginners
Review: I just finished reading the third edition of this book and found something wrong on page 82, page 118, page150, page 165, and page 168. Hope they are corrected on the fourth edition.
Rating:
Summary: Applied Statistics and the SAS Prigramming Language
Review: I thought that this was a fabulous book. I used it for work and needed a copy of my own when I left. It was great to learn the language but even better as a reference book while using SAS daily. I can't live without it!
Rating:
Summary: This Book ROCKS! (for a stats/programming book, that is...)
Review: I've been doing data analysis for almost 20 years and recommend this highly. It is not too advanced for the beginning college student or professional, but more weighty than the small Introduction to SAS books (which seem more suitable for those with no experience). Because it interweaves SAS programming with often used statistics (and offers excellent examples and interpretations of output throughout), it is ideal for a stats and/or SAS course. I find it useful for reviewing SAS steps, and as a quick stats overview. The big SAS books are fine as a reference or for researching more complex and/or narrower questions, but this is far more user-friendly. Highly recommended for the beginning to moderate statistician or programmer.
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