Regarding Programming Languages

[uddinsalman]

Is it necessary to have knowledge of some programming language in order to learn data science or the course will teach everything

[Cynthia_sas · Accepted solution]

Hi:
We prefer familiarity with SAS programming to the level of Programming 1, Programming 2 and SQL 1 classes (at a minimum) before you start. SAS Macro Language 1 is very useful since some of the analytic content in the Data Science classes use SAS Macro variables and Macro programs for processing.

If you have only used other languages like SPSS or STATA in the past, then we'd recommend taking Statistics 1 to get a feel for how SAS does ANOVA and Regression. Our Data Science classes assume that the student has some level of comfort with programming before they start. If a student only knows R, we do have a SAS Programming for R Users class, but we don't have equivalent classes for other languages.

Cynthia

[uddinsalman]

First of all thanks for the reply. I do not have any experience with programming languages, I am a college student and till date I have done data analysis using SPSS in my projects. I am very much excited about SAS and wanted to have a career as data scientist. As I have no experience with programming languages, can you suggest something like what I should do? Should I learn some language before resuming my SAS course?

[Kurt_Bremser]

As @Cynthia_sas said, Programming 1 is a good entry. It basically starts from scratch and does not assume that you already have programming experience.

[ballardw]

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@uddinsalman wrote:

First of all thanks for the reply. I do not have any experience with programming languages, I am a college student and till date I have done data analysis using SPSS in my projects. I am very much excited about SAS and wanted to have a career as data scientist. As I have no experience with programming languages, can you suggest something like what I should do? Should I learn some language before resuming my SAS course?

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SPSS does have a "programming language" but the typical instruction seems to concentrate on the point and click approach.

By $0.02 about other "programming language" is the familiarity with some sort of grammar helps, i.e. that statements must follow rules. Also, good familiarity should include the ability to read documentation as to what functions or procedures do, the syntax for use and the prerequisites (math functions should be applied to numeric values for instance) and how to find/ use tools that will tell you about your data. Those skills may make things quicker but are not needed.