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I’m delighted that Phil Holland, Holland Numerics, has written a guest post today. Phil, clearly a SAS icon, is the author of numerous SAS books that are available from multiple sources. He recently expanded his work into some new and exciting formats, which he is discussing in this post.

Writing SAS Books

Let me be very clear about my attitude to writing books. I am never going to sell enough of my SAS books to compete with J K Rowling. I write books purely to market my SAS skills, and I’m never going to earn enough from selling books that will allow me to retire early, even if I wanted to!

I discovered over the last few years that there are a lot of illegal copies of both my two previous books, and I mean a lot! Part of me is flattered by the proliferation of my books, and another part of me is offended by the criminal acts of illegally copying MY BOOKS! It appears that several people have obtained (bought?) paper copies of my books, scanned them and distributed the scanned copies on Torrent sites. I’ve informed SAS Publishing of these Torrent sites, but it is futile to attempt to shut them all down, as new sites are appearing all the time.

Motivation to Build Apps

I decided to try a new approach to the problem. I wanted to try another way of publishing which allowed the reader to buy information that would be updated at no extra cost, so that illegal copies would become out-of-date very quickly.

My apps are low cost, but allow user interaction to email code samples, or email requests to me for answers to new SAS-related questions in future app updates. The apps are compatible with smartphones and tablets running webOS (on Palm and HP hardware) or Android (on various hardware from v1.6), and the text can be resized to suit the reader.

All the webOS apps use JavaScript and HTML5, and the Android apps use Java and HTML5, to display the eBook text stored in essentially the same HTML files, so publishing new apps, and updating old ones, is mostly down to writing the answers to the questions into a web page, and not updating the app. Currently both apps are small enough not to require any search facilities, but I’m going to include this in a future version when I think it becomes necessary.

WebOS App Features

Learn more Here: How Do You Do This in SAS: webOS app support page

Android App

Learn More Here: How Do You Do This is SAS: Android app support page

Got a SAS Enterprise Guide Question?

This is where you can help … I need some new SAS Enterprise Guide questions to answer for my next new app! App pricing is based on the number of included questions, but will never exceed $3. My current apps on Data Steps and on Platform-specific questions are only around $2 each, so early purchase will save you a little money.

Proposed apps not published yet include: PROC SQL, SAS/GRAPH, SAS Statistical Graphics, SAS/ACCESS, SAS ODS, SAS Base Procedures and SAS Macros.

Other Frequently Asked Questions

Why did you develop the apps for webOS smartphones and tablets?

I have had several Palm phones and the developer kit was free to use, so it seemed like a win-win situation, because I already had the hardware to test the apps. I already knew JavaScript quite well, so the app development process was fairly easy too. I know there will be no new webOS hardware appearing soon, but there are nearly 1 million HP TouchPads out there now, and some are indeed owned by SAS programmers.
Why did you develop the apps for Android smartphones and tablets?

With the current webOS situation I needed another platform for my apps. I don’t currently own an Android phone or tablet, but the emulator in the development kit, like that supplied for webOS, is reliable enough to trust for most ofmy testing. Fortunately my JavaScript programs only needed quite small changes to convert them into Java, which I had programmed in beforehand, so it was a logical step forward to develop for the largest market sector of smartphones and tablets.
Why don’t you develop the apps for iPhones and iPads?

There were several reasons. One reason is that I’ve never programmed in C#, but the main reason is money! Apple demand that apps must be developed on a Mac. My apps are never going to compete with Angry Birds, so I’m not really likely to recoup the cost of a Mac from my app sales.