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Anyone using SAS ?

By the way, while looking into obtain a copy of SAS for personal use, I found this site
http://www1.cuny.edu/resources/site_licenses/index1.html

It says that CUNY students/faculty/staff can obtain copies of the listed software for home use. They have SAS, SPSS, Mathematica and many more. We need to email the Campus coordinator to fill in a form, and get the copy from them. The one at Baruch is Nikki Bermek. I already emailed about the SAS. We'll see how it goes.

http://www1.cuny.edu/resources/site_licenses/coordinators.html
 
I have learnt a little about SAS in my undergraduate study. I heard that some hedge funds use the database COMPUSTAT and CRSP, with the help of SAS, to create and test strategies that might make money. I do not know whether Baruch provides COMPUSTAT and CRSP. could anyone tell me?
 
When I took SAS a while back, we used the book by Cody and Smith (don't remember the name). There are several books on SAS by these authors.

Also, when I used SAS at work, the Internet was my best reference, especially for various options I needed for some of the PROCs.
 
Thanks guys,
SAS is used by trading desks, hedge funds, and everyone out there. They connect to different financial databases like Compustat, Worldscope, IBES, etc. I'm trying to find out which databases the trading floor at Baruch uses.
Even though there are alternatives out there like R, S-Plus, the places I interviewed with use SAS. That's my motivation to learn this.
 
Andy, I can lend you a book. I have two copies of that Cody book.
 
Thanks guys,
SAS is used by trading desks, hedge funds, and everyone out there. They connect to different financial databases like Compustat, Worldscope, IBES, etc. I'm trying to find out which databases the trading floor at Baruch uses.
Even though there are alternatives out there like R, S-Plus, the places I interviewed with use SAS. That's my motivation to learn this.

Andy, could you please tell me what specific places (i.e. company name) using SAS? I am curious about that. And do you have more detail about what do they do by SAS?
thanks!:)
 
Compustat can be accessed through the Baruch database list. Here's the link for those that are interested.

This week I will check to see if we are connected to any other databases at the Subotnick center.
 
Thanks for the good news, Christian. This should be added to the Baruch wiki entry (hint...hint)
That link does not link to Baruch Library. This is the database list at Baruch http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/search/databases.php
I found Compustat, IBES and ton of others (no wonder Baruch Library is one of the best in NYC)

After log in, here is some of the database you can access

* Audit Analytics
* Bureau van Dijk
* COMPUSTAT Global & EMDB
* COMPUSTAT North America
* CRSP
* EVENTUS
* I/B/E/S
* IRRC
* NYSE TAQ
* OptionMetrics
* Thomson Financial
 
Andy, could you please tell me what specific places (i.e. company name) using SAS? I am curious about that. And do you have more detail about what do they do by SAS?
thanks!:)
It's not the companies per se but rather the dept/groups you will work with. People use SAS to connect to financial databases to find out earning report, stock price, trends,... i.e data manipulation.
Most of the jobs a MFE graduate ends up will deal with tons of databases and SAS seems to be the industry standard. Then you need to interface it with vba/excel/c++ for the traders to use.
 
One thing is whether baruch provides other database. The other is that whether baruch combines different database (different database focuses on different data, so combined database means great convinience). I know NYU provides combined database of COMPUSTAT and CRSP. If we do not provide combined database, it is our work to combine them.
 
Thanks guys,
SAS is used by trading desks, hedge funds, and everyone out there. They connect to different financial databases like Compustat, Worldscope, IBES, etc. I'm trying to find out which databases the trading floor at Baruch uses.
Even though there are alternatives out there like R, S-Plus, the places I interviewed with use SAS. That's my motivation to learn this.

How nice, maybe I will be able to get into one of those companies :) Looks like my SAS work experience is even greater than C++. Andy, I'll probably ask for your help with the names of those companies after I'm done figuring out things about my PhD :)
 
I know NYU provides combined database of COMPUSTAT and CRSP. If we do not provide combined database, it is our work to combine them.
We have the merged database. Baruch and other universities use WRDS dataset at Wharton (UPenn). They have CRSP/Compustat merged database that matching COMPUSTAT financial data to the CRSP security price data.
Baruch library is one of the most technically advanced libraries in the country. We just don't use it enough to find out what they have :smt102
 
Finally got SAS installed and working after a long struggle to find all the required data (1 setup CD, 5 installation CDs, 2 service packs).
Next step is connecting to CompuStat, IBES from SAS/CONNECT. If someone knows good resources, I'd like to know. If I find out by then, I'll post here.

I think you have to know the database name and also is it a db2, oracle, etc. database and you have to makesure that you have access into it. I am not pretty sure.

I recommend to read a book about Proc SQL and Macros if you want to further develop your skills in SAS. By doing Proc SQL, you can connect to database and then create a table by selecting variable columns that you need.

SAS is a powerful tool!!. I think they develop to enhance the tool so you can write any C++, Java Script in it. Great.
 
Folks:
Many of you at Baruch may know we have access to a service through the Library called "Books 24x7". Two new entries (perhaps of interest to readers of this thread) that just came through are:


SAS For Dummies by Stephen McDaniel and Chris Hemedinger
John Wiley & Sons © 2007 (408 pages)
ISBN: 9780471788324
Combining real-world expertise and a friendly writing style to introduce readers to SAS basics, this guide offers step-by-step instructions and screenshots to show you how to work with analytics, databases, reports, and queries.


SAS 9.1.3 Language Reference: Dictionary, Fifth Edition, Volumes 1-4 by SAS Institute
SAS Publishing © 2006 (1884 pages)
ISBN: 9781599940984
Providing you with a complete selection of reference entries for individual elements of the SAS language in an alphabetized, encyclopedia format, this comprehensive manual will help save you time, effort, and system resources.


Note I have not read nor necessarily endorse these. Just wanted to point out they are available.

Cheers,

Prof. H.
 
I use SAS at work and had to start programming immediately. I was told to refer to http://support.sas.com/onlinedoc/913/docMainpage.jsp. Eventhough there is much documentation (I rushed it and still took me more than a week), it all comes down to a few "procs" and macro programming, mainly in the "Base SAS" section. Within the Base SAS section, I found the first 4 topics useful as well as the SAS SQL Procdeure User's Guide and the SAS Macro Language reference.
 
Got a SAS Little book from Amazon. Seems to be a great one to get started. Will get right on it next week.

Did you get any responce from the Baruch's license coordinator to get a free copy of SAS for home use?
 
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