Book excerpt: The SAS® Certified Specialist Prep Guide: Base Programming Using SAS® 9.4 prepares you to take the new SAS 9.4 Base Programming -- Performance-Based Exam. This is the official guide by the SAS Global Certification Program. This prep guide is for both new and experienced SAS users, and it covers all the objectives that are tested on the exam. New in this edition is a workbook whose sample scenarios require you to write code to solve problems and answer questions. Answers for the chapter quizzes and solutions for the sample scenarios in the workbook are included. You will also find links to exam objectives, practice exams, and other resources such as the Base SAS® glossary and a list of practice data sets. Major topics include importing data, creating and modifying SAS data sets, and identifying and correcting both data syntax and programming logic errors. All exam topics are covered in these chapters: Setting Up Practice Data Basic Concepts Accessing Your Data Creating SAS Data Sets Identifying and Correcting SAS Language Errors Creating Reports Understanding DATA Step Processing BY-Group Processing Creating and Managing Variables Combining SAS Data Sets Processing Data with DO Loops SAS Formats and Informats SAS Date, Time, and Datetime Values Using Functions to Manipulate Data Producing Descriptive Statistics Creating Output Practice Programming Scenarios (Workbook)