Hands-On SAS for Data Analysis

Compile phase

The compile phase is one that is often not well understood by the users as this is the backend processing the output that was generated. Tasks within the compile phase include syntax check, input buffer (not created if reading an existing dataset), program data vector (PDV), and descriptor information:

• Syntax check: In the syntax check task, SAS checks whether the code syntax is correct and then converts the programming statements into machine code to help execute the code. Only if the syntax is correct does SAS proceed with other tasks in the compile phase.
• Input buffer: The input buffer is a logical area in memory in which SAS reads each record of data from a raw data file where the program executes. In the case when a dataset ...